Passion For Glory
by Animaster21
Summary: In the snowy region of Sinnoh, an ancient dark force slowly seeds its way through the world. In Jubilife City, a group of friends decide to leave their lives of repetition and boredom, to explore the land they live in. Journey fic, rated T just in case.
1. Chase Returns

**Pokemon**

**Passion For Glory**

Hi there, my dear readers. Unfortunately, I have indeed cancelled Aura Adventure. It was a good run, but it just wasn't working out. Anyway, in replacement, I've created this; Passion for Glory.

Passion for Glory's set in Sinnoh, the only region that I've never written any form of fanfiction in whatsoever (apart from Unova), so I'm pretty excited. It's set after Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum, though, so there's no Team Galactic. Instead, Team Epsilon will return from Aura Adventure. Oh, and by the way, I'm using the Platinum Sinnoh Dex, so no Gen V pokemon for you!

As for the chapter lengths, I'm thinking somewhere between 3000-4000 words a chapter. Not too short, but not too long that it takes a while to write. Lucky you.

Now, I think I'm done yakking on for now, so let me now say...

On with the chapter!

**000**

Music blared from a small amp on the floor, the sound of an electric guitar hammering from the speaker. Standing in front of it, legs spread in a classic rock pose, Brayden Rhen strummed at the strings, bringing forth the sound.

Bray rocked his head wildly as he played, fingers zipping over the frets. With a final strum, he ended the song, posing crazily as the sound echoed around the small room. When all was silent again, he looked around, ears ringing.

By the window, on top of the small dresser under the sill, sat a small orange otter. Two tails whipped in circles behind it.

"Bui, bui!" it said.

Bray grinned. "How'd that sound, Jett? Too loud?"

The Buizel shook its head, tails spinning again. Bray laughed.

"That's great. Thanks, buddy!"

He pulled the guitar's strap over his neck, and placed it on a small guitar stand, before giving his blonde hair a quick ruffle, picking annoyingly at a small mole above his right eye. For the hundredth time, he wished that it wasn't there.

Bray walked over to where Jett the Buizel was perched, and glanced out the window. The tall skyscrapers of Jubilife City reached for the heavens, lit by the flaming sun. Bray gave Jett a quick scratch on the head, and the small orange otter rubbed its head against his hand.

"Buuuiiii..." it hummed, Bray smiled, turning back to his bed, when suddenly, he heard a commotion from the other side of his bedroom door.

"Sorry Mrs. Rhen, I've gotta see Bray, it's urgent."

The door burst open, and a boy skidded into the room, big blue eyes wide. He was out of breath, panting wildly. A cap covered his spiky brown hair; it had a lightning bolt shocking a pokeball on it.

Bray scratched a small burn on the back of his hand nonchalantly, acting unsurprised. Despite his outward behaviour, he was itching to know what the intrusion was about.

"Wassup, Ozzie?"

The boy raised his head, still breathing heavily. He must have run the whole way here, realised Bray. Curiosity tore at him.

"It's _him_, he's back!"

Bray was confused. "What? Who's back?"

"_He's _back, come on. He's battling in the square, let's go."

Ozzie turned and dashed out of the room, leaving Bray even more confused than before. People battled in the square all the time, what was the big deal? Turning back to his dresser, he held out his arm.

"Come on, Jett."

Jett bounded off the tail and ran up Bray's arm, climbing around his shoulders and perching itself next to its owner's head. With his friend securely in place, Bray followed Ozzie out the door, closing it behind him. By the time he had gotten down the hall, Ozzie had already vanished out the door of the flat.

Bray exited as well, emerging out the front door onto a third-floor terrace. Blocking people from falling down was a metre high brick barrier. As usual, Bray nervously avoided going near the edge; despite living on the third floor, he had a crippling fear of heights.

Subconsciously keeping close to the wall behind him, he dashed down the balcony to a white door at the end of the corridor, and tugged it open, leading into a room where the stairs laid their path to the ground. Windows were placed on every landing, showing the view of the city. Placing his hand on the rail, Bray ran down the stairs two at a time, quickly catching up to Ozzie by the second floor.

Even though he was only a year younger than Bray, Ozzie was a full foot shorter than him; the boy's short stature and youthful face made him look a lot younger than fourteen. Bray tackled him lightly, stopping Ozzie's mad dash.

"Would you just give me some answers, you dope?" he demanded. "Who's battling in the..."

Bray trailed off, gazing over Ozzie's shoulder out the window, eyes slowly widening. From the second floor, he could see clearly down the entire street to the town square, where a small crowd gathered around in a circle. And standing in the circle, facing another trainer, was...

"Chase?" gasped Bray. "No way, you're not serious?"

Ozzie just nodded wildly, gasping for breath.

"Yeah..." he finally blurted out. "Showed up...ten minutes ago...got challenged to a battle...so I came...to get you..."

Bray ignored him, running full-speed down the stairs, skipping three at a time. Chase was back in Jubilife City for the first time in six months; Bray couldn't believe what he had seen. He hadn't seen his friend since Chase had left on his pokemon journey, leaving home to travel Sinnoh.

With a final leap, Bray cleared the last flight of stairs, bursting from the door at the bottom into the lobby of his building. Jogging across the foyer, he passed through the automatic doors and emerged onto the street. Jett bounced uncomfortably on his shoulder, but Bray hardly noticed.

The midday sun seared down onto the black tar of the road, reflecting off the steel of the skyscrapers making up the city. The main doors of Bray's building opened out onto a long road, which Bray ran down, towards the large city square. Even as he drew closer to the crowd watching the battle, more people joined it; they blocked the two combatants from view.

The city square was large, perfect for pokemon battles. Trees lined the edge of the plaza, shading the small park benches scattered around the square. A small group of Starly flew between the branches, pecking at each other for position. One of them was eyeing a Wurmple clinging to a tree on the other side of the plaza.

Reaching the back of the crowd, Bray craned his neck, but couldn't see over the heads of the jostling congregation. Annoyed, he thrust his arms between two spectators and forced his way to the front, shoving people to the side.

"Hey, watch it, kid!" one of them shouted, but Bray ignored him, surveying the battle that was already in place.

On one side, a tall teenager stood. His pimply face was screwed up with concentration. Bray grimaced; it was Turk Gilmore, the most annoying person in town; well, depending on your opinion of Ozzie, that is.

In front of Turk fluttered a purple moth, with tattered green wings. Attached to its body were a few stubby red legs, but it obviously didn't use them very much. It was Turk's Dustox, a vile member of its species which delighted in releasing clumps of foul smelling pollen into the clean air.

But it was the other trainer that really held everybody's attention. A year older than Bray, he wore a navy blue jacket, and denim jeans, as well as a studded belt. The belt held two pokeballs, hanging between the silver studs.

The teenager had pitch black hair, with a pointy fringe that hung over one of his eyes, which were a bright hazel and brimming with confidence. He had a pointy nose, and thin black eyebrows. The boy's mouth was curled into a cocky smile.

Two younger girls standing next to Bray were fawning over the boy, pointing and whispering to each other.

"Who _is _he, anyway?"

"Don't you remember?" answered the other. "That's Chase. I never thought I'd see that handsome mug again, that's for sure."

Bray rolled his eyes, just as the people behind him parted again and Ozzie squeezed through, forcing his way over next to Bray.

"Thanks for leaving me behind," the boy said in a sullied tone, scowling at his friend.

Bray reached over and gave him a soft punch on the shoulder. "Sorry, Oz, I had to get down here quick."

Ozzie waved his hands, already forgetting his annoyance. "Shut up, it's about to start."

Bray quickly closed his mouth, along with everybody else in the crowd, as Chase reached for one of the pokeballs on his belt. It detached from its place with a small click, and Chase lightly pressed the button on the front of the walnut-sized capsule. It immediately swelled to the size of a baseball.

"So, one on one, you say?" he called to Turk. His voice was confident; it held an arrogant tone, just as Bray remembered. Across the other side of the square, Turk nodded, gesturing towards his Dustox, which made a buzzing noise.

"You reckon you're such a good trainer, take me on. I've wanted to battle you my whole life, Chase. Now I've got the chance to beat you and prove that I'm better."

Chase dipped his head slightly. "Have it your way. I'll make quick work of you. Go, Staravia!"

He hurled his pokeball into the air. The red and white sphere spun under the midday sun, before bursting open. Light streaked through the air, forming into a large brown bird. It had a plume on its head, and as the crowd gasped, opened its beak and let out a shrill cry.

Bray went pale, and he involuntarily tried to take a few steps backward, but the throng of people was too thick, and he was forced to stay where he was. Accompanying his fear of heights was a tremendous dislike of birds. On his shoulder, Jett rubbed its head against his ear in an attempt to reassure him.

Likewise, Turk was similarly shocked, although for different reasons. Chase smirked, and took his chance while his opponent was still gawking.

"Staravia, Wing Attack!"

The bird gave another cry, and flew higher into the air, before looping back down and streaking at Dustox. Turk reacted just in time.

"Dustox, use Stun Spore before it gets to you."

Desperately, Dustox began to flap its wings, and an orange mist began to drift from the red spots on them. Staravia drew closer to the powder, but didn't deviate its course.

Chase smirked.

"Quick Attack, now!"

Staravia screeched, and in the blink of an eye, its speed increased. As the stunned crowd watched, the bird streaked in and out of the paralysing cloud in less than a second, passing through too fast to be affected. The watching people drew in their breath as one.

"Wha-!" gasped Turk, as he watched Staravia zoom past Dustox, striking the moth with its wing as it did so. Dustox was batted out of the air, fluttering to the ground.

"And now, finish it off with a Peck!" ordered Chase, and Staravia dive-bombed the downed enemy, striking Dustox savagely with its beak. Dustox gave a final croak of pain and passed out.

The crowd was completely silent as Staravia flew back to Chase, resting on his shoulder. The boy stroked its head once, and held up his pokeball.

"You did well. Good job."

A small beam of red light fired from the centre of his ball and hit his pokemon, sucking Staravia back inside. With a small 'hmph' of satisfaction, Chase looked over at Turk, who was frozen in awe.

"I win," said Chase. "You'd better take Dustox to the Pokemon Centre, and don't bother me with a pointless battle again, unless you want to lose a second time."

Turk didn't say a word, but merely bent down and picked up his unconscious pokemon. Holding Dustox in his hands, he walked silently down the street and turned the corner. A few people in the crowd let out a few whoops, and several claps were heard. Chase looked at the people surrounding him.

"OK, OK, move along."

Bray broke into a grin. That was just like Chase. Within thirty seconds, most of the people were gone. Several of them congratulated Chase with a muttered word or a pat on the back as they walked by. Soon, the square was mostly empty. Chase looked around, amused, before turning to where Bray and Ozzie stood. For the first time, a genuine smile reached his face.

"Brayden Rhen, I should have known you'd be here so quickly. And you, Oz."

The teenage trainer strode over to the pair, and gave them a quick look-over. Bray was amazed.

"You're incredible! How'd you get so strong in only six months?"

Chase closed his eyes and smirked. "You learn a lot in the real world. Turk's just a brat who thinks he knows what battling's about. So are you, actually, without the brat part...well, maybe. Deafened any more neighbours with that guitar?"

Bray grinned, and Chase reached up to give Jett a quick stretch.

"So, how's life back here in the city? Busy?"

Bray shrugged. "Not really, same as always."

"Boring as all hell then."

"Pretty much," piped up Ozzie, giving the thumbs up. He looked like a shrimp compared to Bray and Chase. They both towered over the tiny boy. "How long are you here for, anyway?"

Chase frowned. "Well...I'm only passing through. I'm leaving in half an hour."

"_What?"_ gasped Bray and Ozzie together.

"You're not staying? Not even for a few days?" Bray couldn't believe it; his oldest and closest friend finally returned and he was leaving almost immediately?

Chase nodded, and to Bray's surprise looked genuinely sorry. "I can't, I need to-"

"_Psy!"_

Chase frowned as a loud cry interrupted him. The three of them turned to see a fat yellow duck running towards them on its hind legs. Instead of wings, it had small yellow arms, which were waving up and down as it ran. Three tufts of black hair sprouted from its head.

Jett leapt from Bray's shoulder and stood in the way of the Psyduck, but before the pokemon could reach him, it tripped over. Psyduck's eyes widened as it fell, landing heavily in front of the group, dazed. Jett bounded over to it and gave it a shake.

"Oh, Psyduck, I told you not to run away from me like that!" cried a voice, and Bray, chase, and Ozzie turned to see a girl running towards them. Like Chase, she had perfectly straight hair than ran down her back, held in place by a pink band. This made her forehead look extremely large, her fringe held back in the band as well. She wore a pair of perfectly round glasses over her green eyes, and there was a book clenched in her right hand. It had a small sticker on the front: _This book is the property of Tasmin Westwood._ She was about the same age as Bray.

The girl drew level with them and threw herself down next to Psyduck, scooping it up into a big hug.

"Don't run away, Psyduck," she scolded, slapping it lightly on its pale bill. Psyduck looked up at her with dopey eyes. They pointed in different directions.

"Psy, Psy!" it said.

"Man, that thing is dumb," muttered Ozzie under his breath.

"Taz?" asked Bray.

The girl looked up at the trio of boys standing over her, and grinned weakly. "Hi guys."

Suddenly, Taz noticed exactly who she was talking to, and her jaw visibly dropped.

"_Chase? _What are you doing here?"

Chase smiled warmly. He and Taz had always been close, and she was one of the rare people he showed full respect to. "As I was saying before you showed up, I need to go see Professor Rowan, in Sandgem Town."

"Professor Rowan!" gaped Taz, ecstatic. "Oh my God, I'm such a big fan of his! He might be old, but he sure is knowledgeable. I can't _believe _you actually know him, that's so amazing!"

"And he's a crabby old bugger," responded Chase, cutting off Taz's awe-inspired gushing of Professor Rowan. "I've only met him once, when he gave me my pokemon, but I'll tell you, he's grumpy as hell."

Taz stopped talking, her excitement disappearing, to be placed by a rather disappointed frown. "Oh..."

"So, you're going South then?" asked Bray, who couldn't care less about Rowan's manner. "I've been to Sandgem before, we went there for that field trip three years ago."

Chase laughed in disdain. "I'd almost forgotten about the Pokemon School. All that stuff is pretty basic. Once you get out there, you really learn what it's all about."

He looked at his watch. "Sorry guys, time's running out. I have to keep going."

The others looked disappointed, and Chase himself looked slightly guilty. "I'm sorry...maybe I'll have time to stay a while on the way back."

"Yeah, maybe," answered Ozzie, looking slightly more hopeful. "We'll be waiting."

"Of course we will be," cut in Taz.

"I won't," said Bray, and the others looked at him in surprise, only to be even more taken aback when they saw the grin on his face. "Because I'm going with ya. Right, Jett?"

The small Buizel leapt from the ground and ran up his back, its tails spinning.

"Bui, _Bui!" _it said, nodding its head.

Chase looked at his friend, and the eager Jett on his shoulder, and smirked. How like Bray, so rash and straight-forward. He never thought of the consequences, did he? "Whatever you say."

**000**

Between the massive city of Jubilife and the comparatively small town of Sandgem was Route 202. It was about ten kilometres long, bridging the gap between the two residential clusters of buildings. It was along this route that Bray now found himself travelling, alongside Chase. The excited brash figure of Bray bounced in anticipation, Jett once again riding on his shoulder, while next to him, the cool, collected form of Chase walked calmly, his hands in the pockets of his jeans. He glanced with an amused expression at Bray.

"You don't leave town much do you?" he asked. "I guess I never did either."

Bray laughed. "You know why; if we don't want to battle, we don't go out on the routes. In fact, the pokemon have been getting more common."

Chase nodded thoughtfully. "Strange..."

They walked on for a few moments, but the quiet began to bother Bray, who hated silence, finding it more deafening than any noise. The direct opposite, Chase loved the quiet. And this was the perfect type of quiet; walking down a peaceful path, the sounds of scuffling pokemon in the trees to the side. That relaxing sensation you get when around nature.

"So," said Chase, breaking the silence for Bray's benefit. "Still afraid of birds?"

Bray shivered. "Don't remind me." He looked at his friend. "I saw your Staravia before; really impressive."

Chase laughed. "I bet you freaked."

Bray laughed along. "Not really, I just felt like I was gonna be sick. Where'd you catch it, anyway?"

"Actually, it was along here."

Chase gestured to the ground and the trees to the side. "I caught Staravia as a Starly just along this route, as a matter of fact. We've been friends ever since...Oh, look, there's another one."

Chase pointed, and Bray tensed as he saw a small bird. It looked like a tiny version of Staravia, but Bray knew that its name was Starly; it wouldn't become a Staravia until later on.

The Starly looked at them curiously, tilting its head to one side, and trilling quietly. Suddenly, it spread its wings and soared at them, wings flapping to keep itself in the air. Bray yelled, taking several steps backward, but Jett wasn't fazed. It leapt off its trainer's shoulder and tackled Starly out of the air.

"Bui, bui!" it shouted at the bird, waving its fists. The Starly flapped its wings angrily, and swooped back into the trees disappearing from sight.

Jett calmed down, running back to Bray and weaving in between his legs. Bray smiled weakly and bent down, scratching him under the chin. His bent legs were shaking slightly.

"Thanks, buddy," he murmured.

Chase had watched the entire exchange between Jett and the Starly, and now stepped forward, holding his arm out. Bray took it and Chase pulled him back up to full height.

"Come on," he said firmly. "Let's keep on going, it's already one o'clock."

Bray nodded, realising that Chase was trying to take his mind off the Starly. Bray had been frightened of both heights and birds his entire life. It was a weakness he hated, but he had never been able to get over his fear.

Chase led on, Bray walking slightly behind him. A few minutes later, Bray was his usual perky self again.

"And now...onto Sandgem Town!"

**000**

OK, first chapter down. How'd you all like it? I've put a lot more thought into the characters than I did for AA, and I think it's more effective, but you tell me; leave a review and let me know what you thought of the characters...actually, just let me know what you thought about everything ;)

Well, this is definitely on the way now. I meant to write another chapter of Dragon Ball X before this, but I'm in a bit of a bind with that at the moment and I was so anxious to get going with this.

So, I guess I'll see you all next chapter ;) Feel free to read my other stories, although most of them I deleted. Still, I have Dragon Ball X and Wrath of the Mythic Dawn. Also, check out Emerald Skies, a collaboration fic that me and Hotrod198 have been writing. It's under the pen-name Animasterod2198.

See ya's!


	2. Professor Rowan

**Pokemon**

**Passion For Glory**

And now for chapter two! Wow, sorry about the long wait, I've had a weird period of un-motivation, but now I'm back on my feet at last. I hope you're enjoying the story so far. As Alternate Lopunnu said in her review, this story is noticeably more realistic than AA was, which I am extremely glad of ;)

In other news, I have officially decided that this story takes place about 5-6 years after the events of Platinum.

Now, without further ado, on with the chapter!

**000**

Bray gave a giant sniff, feeling the salty air tingle in his nostrils. On his shoulder, Jett wriggled excitedly.

"Bui!"

"I can smell the sea," Bray brightly exclaimed, sweeping his hand through his hair, ruffling it wildly. "We must be really close to Sandgem Town."

Beside him, Chase strolled casually along with his hands in his pockets, an expression of aloofness on his face. "Your powers of deduction are exceptional," he said sarcastically, smirking over at his oldest friend. "But you're right. Sandgem Town's just up ahead, over the top of that crest."

Pulling his right hand out of his pocket, he pointed at a small hill a hundred or so metres in front the pair. Bray's eyes sparkled as he imagined arriving in the town.

They'd been walking for two hours or so, travelling steadily down the path that made up Route 201, bridging the gap between the town and the city. After the encounter with the Starly, the journey had been mostly peaceful, with the exception of a Bidoof strolling across the path. It had ignored them, running across the track into a small bush on the other side.

Finally, they reached the top of the crest, and Bray gasped as he surveyed Sandgem Town for the first time, looking down upon their destination from the top of the ridge. It was stunning; about a hundred houses stood in neat little rows, carefully tended streets between them. Smack dab in the middle was a large park, with a swing set and climbing frame, complete with a large slide. Bray could see several small children playing in the playground.

Placed sporadically around the town were large windmills, their white blades drifting lazily in slow circles as the breeze helped them achieve their purpose. Next to one of them was a large building, with a field behind it. Several plants grew in the field, and small pokemon frolicked among the leaves.

But all that looked plain and boring when compared to the beach at the far end of town. It was the most beautiful thing Bray had ever laid his eyes on. The streets of the town gave way to brilliant white sand, millions of tiny particles stretching across the south end of town. And crashing against the sand were the waves of the ocean, blue water sparkling in the sunlight, creating hundreds of bright diamonds on the surface. Foam frothed at the lips of large waves, which curled over the sand and smashed down upon it.

"Wow," was all that Bray could say as he gazed on the fantastic scenery. It was mind-blowing. Shielding his eyes from the sun with one of his hands, he couldn't take his eyes off the beach. A few people lay on the sand, or played in the water. Suddenly, Bray saw yet another person, zipping in and out of sight amongst the waves. The person was perched confidently on a sleek surfboard, keeping perfect balance despite the powerful surf. Even as Bray and Chase watched, the surfer rode a wave into the beach, landing on the sand. Bray was surprised as he realised that it was a girl.

She had short strands of black hair, with blonde tips. It only went down to her shoulders, but the girl had a long fringe to make up for it. She had a slender body, perfectly poised as she strode up the beach.

Bray heard Chase give a small chuckle, and he glanced over at the other boy. He had a smirk of recognition, and shook his head.

"Good to see you, Lex," he muttered.

Bray was surprised. "You know her?"

Chase nodded, still looking across town at the girl. "Yeah, you could say that. Alexis is one of Professor Rowan's students, like me. She helped me out a lot when I first started out." He jerked his head towards the town. "Let's get going."

Chase strolled down the hill, leaving Bray behind. Bray closed his still-open mouth and hurried after his friend.

"Wait up, Chase!"

Chase rolled his eyes and didn't stop, trekking down the hill with his hands still in his pockets. Bray picked up his speed a bit more, drawing alongside.

"Which one is Professor Rowan's lab?" he asked, sweeping his gaze over the hundred or so buildings. Chase raised an arm and pointed to the large warehouse-like structure with the field out the back.

"See that big one over there?" he said, and Bray nodded. "That's where Rowan does all his research."

"What's with the field?"

Chase shrugged a single shoulder. "He probably uses it to grow veggies and stuff for the pokemon to eat. Also, they like to play in it, apparently."

As he spoke, they reached the bottom of the hill, and officially entered Sandgem Town. Bray broke into a wide grin as they passed under a large sign that hung over the entrance to the town, and the dirt path beneath their feet turned into a concrete walkway.

"We made it," he said simply.

"Way to state the obvious..."

The pair strolled casually along the side of the street, making their way through the town towards their destination. As Bray thought of Professor Rowan, he remembered what Chase had said about the old scientist back in Jubilife City.

"So Rowan's a real grumpy-guts, eh?"

Chase chuckled a bit, amused by the question. "You can say that again. At least, he was grumpy as hell when I was there. He might have just been having an off day, but from what Lex told me he's like that all the time."

Bray frowned. "Maybe we can cheer him up a little, eh Jett?"

"Bui! Bui, bui!"

"Always optimistic," murmured Chase.

They turned a corner into another street, and suddenly Rowan's lab was in sight. Less than a minute later, they arrived at the door. Bray looked up at the building. It was double-storey, with a brown-red triangular roof, like a classic barn. The top floor had a few windows at the front, but Bray couldn't see into them at the angle he was looking from.

As Bray gave the building a good looking at, Chase extended his arm, reaching for the door. However, as soon as his hand touched the handle, it turned on its own, and swung inwards. Chase was taken by surprise as a tall man in a white lab coat strode out the door, colliding with him.

"I'm sorry about that," said the scientist casually, looking down at Chase and Bray. He tugged a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his brow. "I didn't see you there. Chase, isn't it? I remember you. Here to see Professor Rowan?"

"Yes. Is he in?"

"I think so," answered the man, and poked his head back into the lab. He remained like that for a few seconds, and then turned back to the two boys.

"I'll be back in a second."

Chase nodded in confirmation, and the man disappeared.

"Who was that?" asked Bray.

Chase laughed. "You didn't think Rowan would work in this giant lab all on his own, did you. That was one of his assistants, Professor Cotton, I think."

As if on cue, Cotton returned, and beckoned the boys in. They stepped over the threshold into the lab, and Bray gasped. The lab was even bigger than on the outside. On either side of the door were wide open spaces occupied with tables. A few men stood by the tables, measuring out food and comparing small plants. Further in, the room ended, two doors on either side of the wall, but in the middle was a large staircase, leading up to the second floor.

"The Professor's just out the back in the field, he'll be with you in just a minute," said Cotton, wiping his forehead with his handkerchief again. "A few of the Bidoof needed their teeth trimmed, so he's just doing that now. Just head up the stairs, make yourselves comfortable, he says."

With that said the scientist hurried off, joining the others at the tables and supervising them. Chase led the way up the staircase, Bray tentatively following behind, and the found themselves in a lounge area. On the right side of the room was a small kitchen, with a fridge, a sink, an oven, and a small stove, while on the right was a comfy looking couch, with two armchairs positioned in front of it. All three chairs were on a patterned rug, and a rich brown coffee table stood in the middle.

"Nice place," said Bray, plonking his behind on the couch, hands folded behind his head. Jett leapt from his shoulder and ran down his body, before hopping across to the coffee table. "Must be the crew room."

"Yeah," replied Chase, and sat down next to him. "I remember sitting on this couch six months ago when I chose my first pokemon."

Without warning, Professor Cotton ascended to the second level, a large plate in his hands. Placed on the plate were several hotdogs, which he then deposited on the coffee table.

"Here you go," he said, gesturing towards the food. "Dig in, you're probably hungry after walking all the way from Jubilife."

Bray's eyes widened with delight, and he grabbed a hotdog from the plate, ripping a massive chunk out of it. He closed his eyes as he savoured the flavour.

"What luck," he moaned.

Cotton raised an eyebrow. "You seem to like them. I'm glad."

Chase gave a bark of laughter. "Like them? They're his favourite food." The boy gave his friend an embarrassed look. "He could eat them all day."

Bray looked at him. "I've still got that photo of me throwing up after I won the Hotdog Eating Championship two years ago."

Chase rolled his eyes, and Cotton laughed, before dashing back down the stairs and returning to his work. Chase reached out for a hotdog of his own, taking a bite out of it, when suddenly a deep voice resonated from the lower floor, reaching up to where Bray and Chase sat.

"Ah, hello there Cotton. He's upstairs, I presume?"

"That's right, Professor."

Chase looked over at the staircase in interest just in time to see a white-haired head bob up them. Surreptitiously nudging Bray, he watched as the head revealed itself to be joined to a body, and Professor Rowan arrived at the top of the stairs.

Putting aside his hotdog for a moment, Bray surveyed the man. He looked fairly young for his age; nevertheless, his short rough hair was completely white, covering his head. Rowan's eyes were stern, covered by large bushy eyebrows. Sideburns ran down the side of his face, but his chin was bare. Of course, he wasn't devoid of facial hair; a killer moustache hung under his nose, covering his entire upper lip and stretching across his whole face, reaching the sideburns.

Unlike the other scientists, the old man wasn't dressed in a white lab coat; he wore a white collared shirt with a neat blue vest covering it; a plain brown tie hung down behind the vest. Matching the tie was a long brown coat that hung down to just above his knees. Large hands extended from the long sleeves.

"_So, this is Professor Rowan," _thought Bray. "_Looks pretty scary..."_

Rowan was giant, at least two metres tall. While Bray wouldn't call him fat, he was very broad-chested, and looked rather heavy-set.

Rowan looked over at the two boys sitting on the couch, and his moustache bristled as he gave a small smile.

"Good to see you, Mr Wrighton," he said. Rowan's voice was very deep and resonant, but Bray was surprised at the kind tone that carried in it. Although he looked rather frightening and intimidating, Rowan seemed a lot more friendly than Chase had made him out to be.

"Hello, Professor," answered Chase, as Rowan moved over to the seating area. The Professor stood in front of one the chairs, as if to sit down, but before he did, he looked at Bray.

"And who's this? A friend of yours, Chase?"

Chase nodded, taking another bite from his hotdog, but didn't say anything more, leaving Bray to introduce himself.

"I'm Brayden," he said, and shook Rowan's offered hand. The man's massive fist completely covered Bray's, but it was surprisingly gentle. "But everyone calls me Bray."

Rowan looked at Jett, who was still perched on the table, nibbling at the end of a sausage. He smiled warmly. "This Buizel...it's yours, Brayden?"

Bray nodded, and Rowan gave a small sigh as he sat down, sinking into the chair. "You're a trainer, then, I presume?"

This time, Bray shook his head, turning slightly red. "Not quite, Professor. I go to Pokemon School, but I'm not a trainer."

"It's not for all. Not like your friend Chase here. He was made for battling; his strategies are airtight, if I remember correctly."

"Thank-you, Professor," replied Chase, accepting the praise without a sign of humility.

Bray was slightly confused at Rowan's personality. Despite Chase's assurance that he was a grumpy old man, the Professor came across as very kind and patient.

"_Maybe he just _was _having an off day," _thought Bray.

Rowan opened his mouth to speak again, when suddenly another voice rang out instead.

"Professor Rowan! We need you for a second!"

Rowan looked slightly annoyed, but stood and walked to the stairs.

"Excuse me for a moment," he said over his shoulder, and descended to the lower floor.

"Nice guy," said Bray as he demolished another hotdog. "I thought you said he was really grumpy?"

"He _was _really grumpy!" replied Chase, a bored look on his face. "Maybe he's changed, I don't know. Does it matter?"

The sound of Rowan's footsteps coming back up the stairs reached their ears, and they turned their heads, watching him reach the level they were on.

"Sorry about that," he said. "We just had a little trouble with one of the recipes for the Pokemon Foo-"

Rowan cut off his own sentence as the front door of the lab swung open with a bang, and he turned to look back down the stairs. Still sitting on the couch, Bray and Chase's view of the door below was out of sight, but they both saw Rowan tense up a little as he saw who had entered the building.

"I'm here!" called a female voice. It had a playful tone in it, and Bray guessed that it belonged to a girl around his age. "Where's the boss?"

"Professor, Ms. Greene is here to see you!" Cotton's voice floated up from the lower level. He sounded wary.

Rowan gave a very deep sigh. "I can see that, Cotton. Very well, join us up here, Alexis."

Bray started as he recognised the name; Chase had said it when they had seen the girl surfing at the beach. He had also mentioned that she was a student of Professor Rowan.

While Bray looked curiously towards the staircase, Chase continued eating casually. However, as Alexis ran to the top of stairs, he glanced over, a wry smile on his face.

As Bray had seen when she'd been at the beach, Lex had black hair, with the tips dyed blonde. It was short at the back, but thick, covering her head easily. The girl had a small impish face, and bright green eyes, which seemed to have a joyful spark in them. Freckles littered her face, covering the cheeks on either side of her small nose, and her long fringe was held aside by a hairpin. In her right ear there was a silver stud, and a necklace hung around her neck, a pokeball symbol bouncing on her chest.

Lex bounced up the stairs and stood in front of Rowan. A bright grin stretched across her face, her eyes closed as she looked up at him. Rowan stared down at her, his brow furrowed.

"Alexis, I've told you before, knock before you enter my laboratory."

"Sorry, Gramps!" replied Lex, opening her eyes and looking at him with bright eyes. Rowan gave a great sigh.

"I've told you _that _before as well. I am not your grandfather, so don't call me gramps."

"Oh, that's right," Lex laughed, reaching up and tapping Rowan on the cheek. "Sorry Professor Greybeard," she said, before walking past him to the couch, leaving the Professor standing by the staircase, a mixture of annoyance, outrage, and incredulity on his face.

Lex was surprised as she saw the two boys sitting on the couch, one of which was staring at her with his mouth slightly open, the other eating a hotdog calmly. She smirked at Chase.

"Haven't seen you for a while. How's it going, City-Boy?"

"Not bad, Lex," answered Chase, leaning back on the couch. "Not bad at all."

Lex nodded, and trotted over the couch, plonking herself down next to Bray, taking in his appearance, from the burn on the back of his hand to the mole above his right eye.. "Hmm...I don't think I've ever seen _you _around town...what's your name, Hotshot?"

"Uh...Bray."

"I'm Lex," she said, winking, and sat back in the chair in the same way that Chase had done before. As she did so, Rowan himself returned to the sitting area, descending into his armchair. He looked rather disgruntled, his moustache bristling. Bray leaned over to Chase and whispered in his ear.

"When you were here last time, was Lex here as well?"

Chase had come to the same conclusion; Lex had indeed been in the lab for the entire time he had been, which could only mean one thing. Lex got on Rowan's nerves. Despite this, Chase knew exactly why the Professor kept the girl around; Lex was a lot smarter than she looked, and was Rowan's greatest student.

"So, Professor Rowan," said Chase quickly, breaking the silence. "Why exactly did you call me here today, anyway? I was in Oreburgh City anyway, but why the invitation?"

Rowan shook out of his annoyance immediately, going back to business. Clearing his throat, the Professor looked at both Chase and Lex, before talking.

"I asked the two of you to come to make a request of you; two days ago, we heard rumours that Mesprit returned to Lake Verity."

"Returned?" interrupted Chase. "Where'd it been? Isn't Mesprit meant to live there all the time...that's if it even exists."

"Oh, it exists," replied Rowan. "Six years ago, when Team Galactic accidently opened up a portal to the Distortion World, they used the powers of the three Lake Guardians – Azelf, the being of Willpower, Uxie, the being of Knowledge, and Mesprit, the being of Emotions - to attempt to control Dialga and Palkia, the deities of Time and Space. Luckily, Lucas, Dawn and Barry - my former assistants – managed to stop them, but afterwards Mesprit challenged Lucas to a type of game. It fled Lake Verity and hid over Sinnoh, leaving Lucas to find it again. He never succeeded, and after Dawn, Lucas and Barry left for Kanto two years ago, Mesprit still didn't return...until now."

"So, you want us to go to Lake Verity and see if Mesprit's there?" asked Lex, excited. "Sounds like fun, right City-Boy?"

Chase considered for a few seconds. "I'd have to agree with that. We'll do it."

"Good," said Rowan, standing up. "You can leave immediately."

Chase and Lex stood too, but suddenly a voice broke in. "Hold it, hold it!"

They all looked back at the couch, where Bray was sitting, an interested look on his face. "If you guys are looking for a _legendary pokemon_, you can count me in." He stood, fists clenched in anticipation. "I'm coming too!"

Lex raised one eyebrow for a single second, before grinning too, her eyes closing as she did so. "Nice attitude, Hotshot. What do you say, Professor?"

Rowan considered, for once not being annoyed by Lex's manner. "You're not a trainer...it could be dangerous. But..." He thought to himself, and seemed to flash back to when he was younger. "Pokemon are amazing creatures...They really are the most unique beings on the planet. Legendary pokemon are even more special, and I would be a fool and a failed scientist to deny someone the opportunity to gaze on one. You can go."

Bray pumped the air. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

Chase smiled quietly, and strolled towards the stairs, hands in pockets. Bray followed eagerly behind, and Lex followed up the rear with a wink at Professor Rowan, who grumbled quietly, before heading down himself. As the two boys disappeared out the door, Lex turned back to Rowan.

"Just one last thing."

"Is this important, Alexis, I'm quite busy."

Lex laughed, her bright eyes widening. "Of course it is, Dry Bones."

Rowan turned bright red, and Lex's smile faded as quickly as it had come. "Not important," she said quickly, and nipped out the door, shutting it behind her. As Rowan stood simmering after her, Cotton moved to his shoulder.

"You know you love her, sir."

Rowan tried to keep a straight face, but couldn't help an unwanted smile appearing.

"You win, Cotton. Ms. Greene may gnaw at my nerves like at Bidoof upon a log, but she is quite the charmer. I wish them luck."

**000**

And there's chapter two! Once again, sorry about the wait, I've been pretty lazy. Anyway, what do you think? Lex turned out a tiny bit different to how I meant her to be, but I hope that won't detract on your opinion of her ;)

So, what will become of the trio's task to find Mesprit? Is the legendary pokemon of emotion really at the lake? Find out next chapter! Oh, by the way, I haven't checked this for mistakes, so could you go over it for me Littlemiget? Thanks ;)


	3. Battle at Lake Verity

**Pokemon**

**Passion For Glory**

Chapter three, coming up!

Weirdly, I cannot think of a single thing to say, so I'm just gonna go ahead...Wait! I'm on holidays. Not making any promises, but hopefully I'll get more work done.

On with the chapter!

**000**

"Not important," Bray heard Lex say, and she quickly shut the door, backing away quickly, a tiny smirk on her face. Bray looked behind him, looking after Chase, who had already begun to walk away.

"Hey Chase! Wait up!" he called, and Chase reluctantly halted, looking at his two companions.

"The hands are turning," he replied. "It's half an hour to Lake Verity and another half-hour back. We'd better get going real soon, cause it'll be dark in three hours."

"Rightio," broke in Lex, and she bounced over to them. As she walked past to join Chase, Bray exchanged a glance with the girl; she gave him a warm smile, her bright green eyes closing as she did so. Bray noticed that she seemed to do this whenever she smiled. He studied Lex's face; what with the freckles and the blonde-tipped black hair, Lex was quite the article, possessing a definite feeling of tomboyishness, yet at the same time was delicate, charming and kind. And, thought Bray with a feeling of embarrassment, she was quite attractive.

Bray blushed a little as the thought crossed his mind, and before he could turn away, Lex's eyes were back open, and she looked with amusement at his flushed cheeks.

"Calm down there, B-Boy," she giggled. "We've just met."

She gave him a wink, and lightly ran over to where Chase had already begun to stroll off again. Bray watched her go, his mouth slightly open in surprise.

"Buuuui..." Jett said, and made a small snickering noise. Bray looked at the Buizel indignantly.

"What are you talking about! It's not like that at all!" he hissed, and ran after the two trainers, pulling alongside Chase. His friend looked at him and rolled his eyes.

A minute later, the three of them passed under a large banner on the edge of town, and the path changed once more, only this time it was from concrete to hard-packed dirt. The lines of buildings ended; they had left the town.

Ten metres away, on the side of the road, a sign in the shape of an arrow pointed down the path in the direction they were going. It was freshly painted, white with thick black letters:

**Route 201**

**Twinleaf Town 3km**

**Lake Verity 3.5km**

"Well, boys..." said Lex, as they went past the sign. "We're on the way. To Lake Verity, and to Mesprit!"

**000**

The sun grew closer and closer to the horizon as they walked, the day slipping by before them. By the time they reached the lakefront of Lake Verity, it was already three o'clock.

The lake was hidden amongst a forest of trees, the woods surrounding the entire body of water, closing it in. A dirt path cut its way through the trunks, before breaking free of the foliage and emerging beside the water. There was a small beach of sorts, only without sand. The land was covered in grass instead of grain, stretching for a portion and cutting into the lake. All around the rest of the lake, the trees reached the very edge of the water, making this grassy stretch the only dry ground that looked onto the lake.

The water was fantastic, a beautiful blue, and was perfectly still, except for the small, almost invisible waves where the wind disturbed the surface. Bray looked amazed as he surveyed it.

"This place is awesome," he said in awe, not even blinking as he gazed at the landscape.

"Yeah, you could say that," smirked Chase, stepping up to a tree and leaning back against it, arms folded. "Lake Verity, home of Mesprit, Being of Emotion"

"And we're meant to find it..." murmured Bray, furrowing his brow. Where were they meant to start? Suddenly he straightened up, looking around.

"Hang on, where's Lex?"

A cry answered him, and to Bray's surprise it came from above. "Up here, B-Boy!"

A joyful laugh followed the words, and Bray looked up in a tree. Lex had already climbed it, and was perched in one of the top branches, shielding her eyes from the sun.

"What are you doing up there?"

"Getting a better view," she answered casually, as if climbing trees was completely normal behaviour. "Can't see anything...hold on."

With a cracking of the branches, she shifted in the tree and leapt down, deftly landing on both feet, before overbalancing and crashing to the ground.

Chase rolled his eyes.

"You won't find anything on the surface," he said disdainfully. "According to the legend, the three Lake Guardians live in underground caverns at the bottom of the three lakes. We'll have to go to the bottom to find them."

Bray smirked, and jabbed his thumb at Jett sitting on his shoulder. "No problem at all. Jett, swim out there and find the underground cavern."

Lex was climbing to her feet, dusting herself off from her reconciliation with the ground, wincing. "Bottom of the lake, huh? I'll help out as well."

She pulled a miniature pokeball from her belt and pressed the button, causing the ball to grow to full-size. "Piplup, I need you," she announced, and the ball flipped open, releasing a small blue penguin pokemon.

"Piplup!" it squeaked. Its voice was very high.

"Piplup, search for the underground cavern with Jett, alright? Split up and try and find it together."

Piplup and Jett both nodded, and leapt into the water in unison, creating identical splashes of water.

"Do you think it's there?" asked Lex, gazing at the spot where the two pokemon had vanished. "Wouldn't that be amazing? An _actual _Legendary Pokemon, right here at Lake Verity. That's mind-blowing, isn't it?"

Chase looked disinterested. "I doubt it. This lake would have been searched by pokemon hunters a thousand times over, we won't be the ones to uncover Mesprit."

"Oh..."

A few minutes later, their pokemon returned; just as Chase had predicted, nothing had been found. Lex gave a great sigh as she called Piplup back to its ball.

"Thanks, Piplup, you did great," she murmured.

Chase looked annoyed. "I hope neither of you mind me saying," he grunted, "but this whole expedition was a waste of time. I don't know why I agreed to come. What did we get out of it? We're still clueless about Mesprit."

"I guess you're right, sort of," sighed Lex again, but then her face brightened. "At least we got to come to the lake."

"And besides," piped up Bray, and Chase noticed a unique look in his eye. He recognised that look; it meant Bray had some sort of wild idea. "We can still make something out of this."

"And what exactly would that be?"

"Chase," said Bray, his voice rising in excitement. "Since I saw you battle Turk back in the City before, I've been wanting to say this; Chase...I challenge you to a battle!"

The effect was immediate. Chase, normally so composed, was visibly taken aback by the challenge. His hazel eyes widened slightly, his thin black eyebrows contracting as he stared at Bray. Likewise, Lex was stunned, gasping slightly and looking wildly between the two boys.

"Are you crazy?" she asked incredulously. "You want to battle the Wolf? Look, Hotshot, I know you think you're good but Chase is out of your league. You're not even a trainer!"

Bray stubbornly ignored her, looking at his oldest friend with a cocky grin on his face, pleased by the reaction he had gotten from him. "Well? What do you say?"

Chase still didn't speak, only reached up with his hands and began unzipping his jacket, revealing a black shirt beneath. Bray was confused; what was Chase doing?

That question was answered a second later when Chase reached into his jacket and pulled something from an inner pocket. It was a small case of some sort, silver with a picture of a pokeball on it. Holding it out towards Bray with one hand, Chase flicked the catch holding the case shut with a finger, letting it fall open.

Bray's eyes widened. The inside of the case was velvet lined, cushioning the contents, which winked under the bright sunlight. There were three of them. Three badges shined out of the case from their resting spots, successfully stopping Bray's enthusiasm in its tracks.

"Are you sure you want to follow through with that challenge?" asked Chase quietly. "You're not a trainer; you've never raised your pokemon to battle. I, on the other hand, am Rank 3. What you saw in Jubilife was nothing. I'd wipe the floor with you."

Chase surveyed his friend with his hazel eyes, a fierce gaze saying "Don't battle, you'll only lose". But Bray wasn't the type to simply back down. He'd show Chase who was weak.

"You don't scare me. Come on, let's have a battle."

Bray's eyes stared back into Chase's, full of defiance. The look reminded Chase of experiences past, memories of Bray and the others in Jubilife, how they used to talk of becoming trainers and beating the gyms. Him leaving Jubilife behind had crushed Bray, Chase knew that, and he recalled the day that he had left.

"_You wait, Chase," _Bray had said, as the two stood on the edge of the city, their last moment together before Chase had departed. "_One day I'll leave this place too, and then we'll battle. I'll beat you then, I swear to you."_

And now, it seemed, the time for that battle had come. Chase nodded.

"Fine, we battle."

"_What?" _exclaimed Lex. "We don't have time for this, City-Boy, you said yourself that we had to hurry to get back before sundown, remember?"

The corner of Chase's mouth tilted up in a smirk, and he plucked a pokeball from his studded belt. "This won't take long." Holding the small sphere up, he snapped his fingers. The ball flicked up into the air, enlarging as it did so, and fell quickly back down to Chase's hand, where he caught it on the tip of a single finger. The ball flashed as it spun, perfectly balanced.

"To fight is to win," he said confidently. "Go, Monferno!"

He flicked his wrist and the pokeball arced into the air, before bursting open in a flash of white light. The beam of radiant energy swooped around and struck the ground between the two boys, forming into the shape of a small monkey. The light faded, revealing an orange creature which stood on two legs. It's arms were long, with five fingers on each paw, and the pokemon's thin tail was decorated with an intense ribbon of fire that flowed from the tip. A white collar of fur surrounded its neck, and it had a proud look of confidence on its face.

"Mon, Monferno!" it cried, throwing its arms into the air.

"Huh? A Monferno?" Bray was surprised. "What type of pokemon is that?"

Lex sighed, but was obviously content with the battle. "Monferno are Fire-Types," she explained. "They're small, but they're a lot tougher than they look."

Bray smirked. "A Fire type, eh? No problem. Jett's a Water-Type, we'll control this battle easily, right Jett?"

"Bui!"

Bray reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of folded-up black sunglasses, which he flipped open and pushed onto his face. "Then let's show 'em what you can do!"

Jett leapt off Bray's shoulder and landed in front of Monferno, puffing up its flotation sac to make itself look tougher. Monferno stared it down, the two pokemon sizing each other up. Suddenly, the fire monkey seemed to dismiss Jett, looking away and closing its eyes in disdain.

"Bui! Bui, bui, _bui!" _Jett looked angry, and took several steps backwards to clear the field so they'd have room for battle. Its two tails whirred in a circle as it prepared to fight.

"Are you sure you still want to do this?" asked Chase casually, looking rather bored. Bray nodded furiously. "Well, have it your way. Lex, you're ref."

"What? I'm not a part of this!"

"Just do it."

"Fine..."

Lex backed away to the trees, and finally the stage was set. Here, on the Verity Lakefront, they would battle. A single bead of sweat ran beneath Bray's sunglasses and down his nose; he wiped it away, grimacing at himself as he did so. Why was he sweating? Chase couldn't be _that _hard, could he? Surely Jett's type advantage would help win the battle...right?

"Start!"

Chase reacted instantly. Raising a hand, he shouted out his order.

"Get in close, Monferno. Strike quickly, Fury Swipes, go!"

Monferno's monkey feet propelled it across the grass, drawing it closer to Jett with every passing second. The Buizel was taken aback by Monferno's ferocity and cringed.

"Jett, move out of the way!" cried Bray, but Chase merely smiled.

"That won't do any good..."

And sure enough, as Jett dived to the left, Monferno followed it easily, not losing any speed as it changed direction. Raising its arms high in the air, the sun glimmering off its claws, Monferno crashed its hands down upon Jett, striking the otter across the face. Jett was knocked aside, but Monferno followed up with another hit, and then another. Finally, it leapt high into the air and landed a short distance away.

"Regretting battling me now?" called Chase. "We may be old friends, but that doesn't mean I'll hold back from fighting you. Monferno, Flame Wheel!"

Monferno screeched loudly, and suddenly it jumped about two feet off the ground, and somersaulted in midair. To Bray's shock, it burst into flames, creating a flaming ball of spinning fur, which landed on the ground and began rapidly rolling towards Jett, who was crawling to its feet.

"Quick, Jett, jump into the air!" Bray panicked. So far he hadn't even been able to get a single attack in, Chase's offense was too fast. Suddenly, Bray realised why Professor Rowan had described Chase as having airtight strategies; by keeping up a constant attack, Monferno was also ensuring an unbreakable defence; the opponent is too busy being whacked around to fight back. So much for his type advantage.

The furious ball of fire that was Monferno drew closer by the second, and following Bray's instructions, Jett crouched down and jumped into the air, wincing as it did so. The Fury Swipes had taken a lot out of it. Below on the ground, Monferno was going to too fast to stop. But Chase didn't even hesitate.

"Follow it!"

"No way!" shouted Bray, but there was nothing he could do to stop it. Monferno, still spinning, kicked off the ground and flew into the air, colliding with Jett about four metres off the ground.

"_BUI!"_

Jett slammed into the ground, cringing in pain, while Monferno landed next to it, back to normal. It straightened up to its full height and beat its chest with its hands. Bray was stunned; Chase had picked him apart without taking a single hit.

"Mon-_ferno!"_

"Jett!" cried the loser of the battle, breaking out of his stupor. He and ran over to his wounded pet, scooping it up and examining it. He ripped of his sunglasses; they were darkening his view. "Are you OK?"

"Bu-u-u-i-i..."

"Return, Monferno!" ordered Chase, holding up the monkey's pokeball. A small spear of red light shot from the capsule and hit Monferno, sucking the pokemon back inside. After replacing the ball at his belt, Chase joined Bray, reaching into his jacket and tugging out a small spray bottle.

"Spray some of this on Jett," he said. "It'll make him feel better."

Bray took the bottle with a nod of thanks, and gave it a few squirts. A minute later, Jett was looking well again.

"Bui...bui, bui..." it said sadly, hanging its head. Bray shook his head. "You did great, Jett."

The two boys stood up again, and exchanged a long glance. Chase's eyes were as hard as ever, but Bray's possessed a new fiery determination.

"You're even better than I thought," he muttered, unwilling to admit his newfound reverence for his friend. "Looks like being a trainer suits you, eh?"

Chase chuckled lightly, and turned away, beginning to walk back to the small path leading out of the Lakefront, towards Route 201. "You could say that."

He disappeared down the path, Bray looking after him. Suddenly, he was thumped on the back, and turned to see Lex, who had an "I told you so" look on her mug.

"You stood no chance. He went easy on you, you know?"

"What?" Bray was shocked. "No he didn't."

"_Yes, _he did. The Wolf has three badges, Hotshot. You're not even a trainer. Do the math."

Bray's mind went into overload as he realised the truth in her words. "Have you ever battled him?"

Lex grinned, flashing back. "I did once. After he got his first badge, I took him on."

"Who won?"

"It was a draw. Now come on, time's ticking, B-Boy. We've gotta get back to the lab. Professor Boring will be waiting for us, the old fusspot."

Lex followed after Chase, leaving Bray behind on his own. The boy turned back for one last look at the lake. This had been one hell of a day, that's for sure. He picked up Jett and placed the otter on his shoulder, before grabbing his sunnies from the grass and sliding them back into his pocket.

"Come on Jett, let's go."

With a new spring in his step, Bray ran after the others, disappearing down the path. Suddenly, the air shimmered, a small distortion a few metres above the ground. Mesprit watched the trainers go, filled with fascination, and wondered if they'd ever return.

**000**

It was five o'clock by the time the three trainers arrived back at Sandgem Town. Bray's feet were aching from the day of walking, unused to so much travel. Both Chase and Lex, on the other hand, were fine. They seemed to share some sort of joke as they took turns glancing at Bray as he trampled along the path, but they didn't say anything.

"We made it!" gasped Bray when they passed under the banner leading into town. "Finally."

"You sure do complain a lot, don't you Hotshot?" smirked Lex, her green eyes closing as she smiled. "I guess I can't talk, I used to never shut up when I had to walk a lot."

"You still don't," murmured Chase, and Bray laughed.

A few minutes later, the lab was in sight. Lex frowned as she saw a man standing out the front of the building, staring up at it.

He was tall, with a hard face, though looked young, perhaps only thirty. Tough blue eyes stared up at the lab, an intense knowing gaze that gave Bray chills. The man had thin eyebrows and tough brown hair that was cut fairly short. His arms were held behind his back, and he wore a dark casual suit with an equally dark long-sleeved shirt underneath. A large spiky E was embroidered on the right breast of the suit, and he wore matching pants. Shiny dark shoes covered his feet.

"Who's he?" asked Bray, his sore feet forgotten, but Lex shook her head.

"Don't ask me, I haven't got a clue. Do you think he's an associate of old Greybeard?"

Chase shrugged a shoulder, eyes drooping uninterestedly. He looked bored.

The three finished their trek to the lab, drawing up beside the man, who didn't look around. Suddenly, he spoke.

"Curious, isn't it, how such famous sites can be so simple? This town is remarkably quaint for having such a reputation. To think, that Sinnoh's greatest all started their journeys at this very laboratory. Curious."

"I guess," replied Bray, confused. Who was this guy?

"But then, I suppose, everybody has to start somewhere, don't they?" murmured the man, and he finally looked over at the three. "As did I, far away from here. And look at me now..."

"What are you now, then?" piped up Lex, smiling pleasantly at the man. Obviously, he didn't have the same effect on her that he had on Bray, for she seemed perfectly undisturbed by him.

The man smiled faintly, a small expression that suited his face. For a moment, his hard blue eyes seemed to sparkle with amusement, but then it was gone.

"Oh, if only you knew. No doubt you wouldn't be interested in my position; it's not one that young spirits such as yourselves would find reassuring."

"We're not children," broke in Chase, looking annoyed. His arms were folded.

The man smiled. "No...you're not."

A silence hung in the air, broken quite suddenly by the door of the lab swinging wide open. Professor Rowan stood in the doorframe, poking his large moustache into the street.

"Ah, you're back," the Professor said. "What took you? Now, come in, come in, you must tell me of everything you..."

Rowan's voice drifted off as he noticed the man in front of the lab, and his moustache bristled.

"My lord...what are you doing at my lab? Leave at once, you have no business here."

Bray was startled by the fierce tone in the old man's voice, and looked at the target to whom it was directed.

The man tilted his head, and for a moment a twinge of sadness seemed to pass over his face at the hostility.

"Very well...my regards, Professor Rowan. Farewell."

He turned and left, striding quickly down the street before turning and passing from sight. Rowan let out a held breath.

"Er...Professor?" asked Bray, but Lex asked the question before it had left his mouth.

"Who was that man?" she inquired. Her eyes were filled with confusion, mirroring Bray's thoughts. Contrasting with both of them, Chase had a hungry look in his eyes, curiosity finally overtaking his stoic indifference.

Professor Rowan shook his head in a dither, looking incredibly worried. "I'm sorry to say that was Gamma, one of the four Admins of Team Epsilon."

Chase drew in his breath, and Lex looked horrified. Bray was also shocked; that man, part of the criminal organisation that had recently arisen in Sinnoh? After the terrors of Team Galactic only six years before, Epsilon was by no means welcomed by the people of the region, and was feared region-wide due to their cruelty and disregard for humans and pokemon. Almost nothing was known about them, and this was the first time Bray had heard of any particular leader.

"But...what was he doing here?" asked Lex quietly. "What did he want with you?"

Rowan shook his head, his normal annoyance at Lex pushed to the back of the queue. "I don't know."

They were silent for a few seconds, all lost in thought, before Rowan suddenly clapped his hands.

"Well, no time for standing and speculating, I need to hear about your expedition. It went well, I trust? What news?"

"Well..." said Lex hesitantly, but suddenly Bray interrupted her.

"We definitely have some," he said cockily, and Chase once again saw that determination flaming in his eyes. "I have a _big _announcement to make."

The boy looked at his companions, who stared back confused, with the exception of Chase. A triumphant grin was on his lips, and a spark of mutual respect shot between the two friends. Chase nodded; he already knew what Bray was going to say, and accepted his decision without a shadow of a doubt.

Bray grinned back at him. "I want to be like Chase and Lex. I want to get stronger. So I've decided...I'm going to leave home and travel Sinnoh, and become a pokemon trainer!"

**000**

Hmm, I don't think I did too well with this one...just seemed like the characters weren't as individual as they were in the last two...who knows? You guys tell me.

Wooooo, Gamma showed up! As he was in AA, Gamma is my favourite character, I love his personality and position. Too bad Rowan ordered him away, eh?

And of course, the (rather small) cliff-hanger – if it even counts as that – at the end. You probably all saw that coming, but...surprise! And Chase is pretty strong, eh? His strategy is one that I love in the show, just wallop 'em with endless attacks and stop 'em from fighting back.

Well, that's all I have to say for now, I guess. See ya's all sometime soon ;)


	4. The Desired Path

**Pokemon**

**Aura Adventure**

Hello there, my fellow homo-sapiens. Glad to see you're all still amongst the living. Just so you know, my old laptop recently committed computer suicide, so I'm using my other one.

Anyways, last time on Passion for Glory, Bray, Chase, and Lex journeyed to Lake Verity to try and find the Being of Emotion, Mesprit. Unsuccessful in their search, Bray challenged Chase to a battle, so subsequently owned him. After heading back to Rowan's lab, and after the Professor shoos away Gamma, a Team Epsilon Admin, Bray makes his announcement; he wants to be a pokemon trainer.

Sorry about the wait, by the way. It's been too long!

On with the chapter!

**000**

"A pokemon trainer?" remarked Rowan, his moustache bristling in surprise. At the same time, Lex raised an eyebrow involuntarily, also taken aback. Chase just smirked, his usual cocky look sitting smug on his face. "I'm afraid it's not as easy as that, young man."

"Greybeard's right, Hotshot," added Lex. "You can't just go and randomly decide to be a trainer, now can you?"

Rowan mumbled something under his breathe that sounded something like, "My name's not Greybeard, for crying out loud". Lex looked at him and giggled.

"Oh, sorry Prof," she said. "I forgot about that. You know what? Let's go inside the lab and chat this over, we've been standing here for ages. What do you say, Rowey?"

"_Rowey?"_

"Let's go inside," said Chase quickly.

Rowan took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly, calming down. "You're right. We need to discuss this."

The heavyset Professor turned to his laboratory, grasping the door handle and opening the door. "Come on, everybody in."

Chase went first, striding forwards without waiting for the others. Lex and Bray went at the same time, and collided in the small doorframe.

"Woah, B-Boy," laughed Lex. "Steady on, there."

Bray gestured with his hand. "You first."

Lex mimicked him, waving her hand in the exact same way. "No, you."

Bray laughed, and played up on the 'ladies first' style. "I insist."

"After you."

Suddenly, Bray felt a large thump on his back, and he stumbled through the door, Jett clinging onto his neck for better grip.

"Bui!"

"There, we settled that one," grumbled Rowan, and flicked his finger at Lex. "In."

Lex cleverly waved her hand. "Ladies first, Drybones. I can wait."

You could almost see the smoke coming from Rowan's ears as he turned bright red, but he managed to keep himself in control.

"Enough of those shenanigans, Ms Greene, get in now."

Lex made a mouth shape with her hand, using her four fingers as the top of the mouth and the thumb as the jaw, working it furiously to imitate yakking on. "Whatever you say, Rowey."

"And my name's not Rowey!"

Lex ignored him and entered the lab. Bray had already started up the stairs, and by the time he reached the top, Chase had made one of the two armchairs his home, sitting back in it and waiting for the others.

Bray plonked himself down on the lounge, resting his weary feet, and exchanged a glance with Chase, who grinned.

"I knew you'd say you wanted to be a trainer," said the older boy. "It's just like you to make that decision so quickly. Not the brightest bulb, are you?"

"What do _you_ think? Do you reckon I can do it?"

Chase considered for a few seconds. "I'm not sure. No one would be able to answer that question but you." He smirked. "It's nice to know that I was the one that inspired you, though. Thanks."

They were interrupted by the sight of Lex's black and blonde hair bouncing up the stairs, and a second later her whole body came into view. The girl swaggered across the space between them and sat down next to Bray, winking at him.

"Sorry," she whispered. "I made Professor Boring a little angry. My bad."

Bray looked back to the stairs to see the Professor rise into view. He didn't look _too _mad; just annoyed. Rowan reached the top of the landing and lowered himself into the other armchair.

"Now," he said, his deep voice carrying no hint of frustration. Bray thought about the Professor's ability to change moods if need be; it was pretty impressive. "I want to know exactly what prompted this decision from you; what happened at the lake? Was Mesprit found?"

Over the next ten minutes, Chase and Bray explained what had happened from the moment they'd left the lab, Lex interrupting every now and then with comments, most of which received a disapproving glance from Professor Rowan. While they talked, Rowan's assistant Professor, Cotton, made some coffee. Rowan, Chase, and Bray eagerly sipped at theirs; Lex drank hers more slowly, before giving the last few sips to Jett, who laid on the table dozing. Finally, as the trio reached the encounter with Gamma, the mysterious Admin of Team Epsilon, Rowan held up a hand to silence them.

"Well, that's quite an experience," he remarked. The Professor's wise eyes turned to focus on Bray, a twinkle of amusement in his eyes. "Quite the reckless one, I see."

Bray didn't know whether to grin or grimace, eventually settling upon a nervous sort of smile, scratching at mole above his eye. Rowan chuckled, his former annoyance at Lex seemingly completely gone. Once again, Bray was surprised at the old man's real persona; despite his rather serious appearance, he was extremely patient and kind.

"You remind me of another boy, one of the three Pokedex Holders from six years ago, who helped defeat Team Galactic. Barry, his name was. He was even more excitable than you, in fact."

Bray remembered how Rowan had mentioned the three Pokedex Holders earlier in the day, whatever a Pokedex was. The three had left for Kanto two years ago, Rowan had said, but not before Mesprit had challenged one of them – Lucas – to a game of Hide-And-Seek across Sinnoh.

"Barry had an incredible fondness of Pokemon, and an even greater fondness for his friends. I hope you live up to that side of him, Mr. Wren."

Bray nodded hurriedly. "I will, Professor. But…does that mean…you're going to let me be a pokemon trainer?"

Rowan frowned, and poured himself some more coffee. After filling his mug, he gestured the coffee pot towards Bray, and then the others in turn. The youths all shook their heads, and Rowan placed the pot back on the table, before sipping slowly, considering Bray's question. The boy fidgeted as he waited for the Professor's answer.

"It's not up to me to authorise or disallow that decision, but I will explain to you exactly what such a path entails. Being a trainer is more than just travelling; it's an incredible journey that will impact your entire life. Please, Brayden, consider your decision before you make it."

"So no pressure," piped up Lex, winking.

Bray laughed, and gave the Professor a thumbs up. "You're getting worried over nothing, Professor. I know what I'm getting into."

Rowan gave a questioning smile. "Are you sure you know? Can you go the distance and be a true trainer? Above all, the question you have to ask yourself is this; why? What is your goal, why do you _want _to be a trainer? What is your purpose? Answer that now."

Bray thought to himself, searching his mind. Slowly, he came to a realisation; he didn't know. "I guess…to be stronger than everybody else. I want my pokemon to be able to beat everybody else's."

Rowan nodded thoughtfully, and Bray looked at Chase, who stared with mild amusement back.

"Funny," said the Professor. "As I recall, Mr Wrighton here said almost the exact same thing when I asked _him _that question six months ago. Forgive me; it's a rather foolish answer, I'm afraid. To want to be a trainer for the sole purpose of winning over others demonstrates your lack of experience. Why Chase…over the past six months, has your reason for being a trainer changed?"

Chase nodded in confirmation, not taking his eyes off Bray. "Yep. And I bet yours will change too, Bray."

Rowan nodded too. "I thought as much. If you choose to take this path, Brayden, you will quickly discover your real purpose."

"For once, I agree with Greybeard," said Lex, leaning forwards and stroking Jett, who was still asleep on the table. "Being a trainer is more than just battling. It's a whole new life, and a pretty damn good one if you ask me. I love it."

"In the end, it's all up to you," said Rowan, leaning forward and looking Bray in the eye. "Make the choice that your heart tells you, but consider the difficulties. Battling is not easy, nor is travelling a region. I don't often hand out compliments, but personally, I believe you have the spirit needed to do become a trainer."

"You really think so, Professor?" Bray was taken by surprise, but felt a guilty surge of pride for himself. He'd impressed Rowan, it seemed.

The Professor nodded. "I do. But do you think you have what it takes? That's all that matters."

Bray thought; his whole life had been one continuous path of boredom, stuck in the same city all year round, attending Pokemon School, having unofficial battles with his classmates in the backstreets of Jubilife. He had to get away from it all, begin a new life. His old one would lead nowhere.

And if Chase could do it, then so could he.

"_I won't let him beat me at life as well as in a pokemon battle,_" thought Bray fiercely. _"One day I'll beat Chase, and if this is the way to do it, then I won't be stopped."_

The brown-blond teenager made his decision. "When do I start?"

Lex punched the air in excitement; obviously, Bray's emotions at becoming a trainer were infectious. Or maybe Lex was just that sort of person. Showing considerably less enthusiasm, though having equal impact, was Chase, who had a faint triumphant grin. Suddenly, Bray realised that Chase had been aiming for this the entire venture; he'd wanted to influence Bray to become a trainer the entire time.

As for Rowan, he just leaned back in his chair, sighing in contention.

"It seems there's no swaying you," he grumbled. "Once again you remind me of young Barry. Your enthusiasm and zeal is limitless, just like him."

Suddenly, he stood, heaving himself out of the armchair with surprising strength and speed.

"Come, there is much to do. But first, Chase; I have another assignment I must ask of you, I'm afraid."

Chase stood as well, accepting without hesitation. "I don't mind, Professor. What do you need?"

Rowan's moustache bristled again. He looked rather concerned, and spoke seriously. "Gamma's appearance isn't a good sign, and it seems rather coincidental; while you three were gone, I received an email telling of Team Epsilon men spotted in Floaroma Town. They're up to something. I need you to go and investigate. It's not too much, I hope?"

Chase shook his head. "Not at all. I'll leave right now."

"You're leaving already?" asked Bray, disappointed. Chase shrugged a shoulder.

"I guess I have to. Sorry, Bray. We'll meet up again sometime; we're sure to find each other around."

Bray nodded uncomfortably. Just like that, his reunion with his oldest friend was cut short.

Chase raised a hand, and started down the stairs. "See you all around, then."

"Have fun, City Boy," winked Lex. "Don't get in too much trouble."

"Yeah…see ya…" Bray watched his friend go, a pit building in his stomach. Who knew when they would hang out again, like they used to all the time.

_Click._

The door shut, and Chase was gone. For a few seconds, there was silence, before Lex clapped her hands, her bright green eyes curious and interested.

"Well, you were right before, Drybones. We have a lot of stuff to do."

"Don't call me Drybones!" snapped Rowan, and put a hand over his face, mumbling under his breath. Something along the lines of "Why do I bother…"

"Don't worry about him," said Lex to Bray, winking. "He's just a sourpuss."

"That's enough," said the Professor grumpily, frowning at the girl. "Now, Alexis, why don't you take young Brayden to the Pokemon Center? He needs to be registered and given an official Pokemon Licence."

"Sure, Rowey."

Rowan sunk back into his armchair, hand still covering his face. "I'm getting too old to deal with your shenanigans…" he groaned. "Just go to the Pokemon Center already."

Two minutes later, the two teenagers were off, walking through the organised streets of Sandgem Town.

"I didn't know there was a Pokemon Center here," said Bray, and Lex nodded.

"Yep. All new trainers have to go there to sign up, otherwise you wouldn't be able to compete in the Sinnoh League or get badges from the Gyms."

"Wow, the Sinnoh League. You'd have to be pretty good to be in the Pokemon League Tournament."

"You can say that again, Hotshot. Only the best are allowed to compete, you have to have at least eight badges, and even getting a few is tough enough. Here we are."

They turned a corner into a wide street cutting through the middle of town, obviously some sort of main road. The houses lining the pavement here looked more expensive than the rest of town, and right in the middle of the street was a large building, two storeys high. It looked a lot like Professor Rowan's lab, only more welcoming, with a bright red roof and a large letter P above the sliding glass doors.

With a small hiss, the doors parted, and Bray and Lex walked in, finding themselves in a lobby area. It had a green tiled floor, and against the far door was a help counter. Lex strode forwards towards it, and hit a small bell on the countertop. A few seconds later, a woman entered from a door behind the desk, and sat down behind the counter.

"Hello there, Lex," she said cheerfully. "It's been a while. How can I help you?" The nurse's bright pink hair was covered by a small white hat with a red cross on it. To Bray's surprise, she looked identical to the nurse in the Pokemon Center at Jubilife.

"_Identical twins?" _he thought, but didn't mention anything. Lex gestured at him.

"If you don't mind, Nurse Joy, B-Boy here needs to register to be a trainer."

Bray flipped. Nurse Joy? That was the name of the nurse at Jubilife as well…

"Oh, it'll be my pleasure. Do you have a Pokedex, by any chance, young man?"

"Do I…a what?" he asked. The term was unfamiliar, except for Rowan's mention of the "Pokedex Holders".

"Don't worry, that's not a problem at all, we can do it manually," answered Joy, and tapped a few keys into her keyboard. "Full name, please?"

"Uh…Brayden Reginald Rhen…"

Ten minutes later, Bray had been registered, and was handed a small laminated card. It had his photo on it, as well as a few other details like his trainer number and the time and date of registration. He slipped it into pocket, where it sat next to his folded up sunglasses.

As the two youths left the Center, Bray asked the question on his mind.

"Is that Nurse Joy related to the one in Jubilife?"

To his surprise, Lex burst out laughing, her eyes screwed shut as she cackled away. "Related? Of _course _they're related. The Joy's are a massive extended family who runs Pokemon Centers all over the world. You'll get used to seeing them a lot."

"Oh…and what's a Pokedeck?"

"A what? Oh, you mean a Pokedex!"

Lex reached around the back of her black trousers and tugged a small, light blue machine from her back pocket. It looked like some sort of electronic game system, complete with a flip-screen and little buttons.

"Behold a Pokedex. It's pretty useful when you're on a journey, 'cause it has data on all the pokemon that have been discovered so far. All the stuff you need to know is right in here. They can do a bunch of other things as well."

"Does Chase have one?"

"You betcha. He wields that thing like a supercomputer…Hey, do you mind if we stop off by the mart? I need to buy some more antidotes, I'm running short."

"Sure, I don't mind."

The mart was a smaller building than the Pokemon Center, located on the corner of the street. Inside, shelved filled with merchandise caught Bray's eye, but he didn't have any money on him at the moment; everything was off-limits for the time being.

Suddenly, as he admired an impressive set of Pokemon Encyclopaedias, Lex pushed a small bag into his hands. It had the pokemon mart's logo on the side.

"Huh? What's this?"

Lex winked. "I got you some pokeballs. If you're gonna be a trainer, you'll need some."

"Wow, thanks!" Bray felt a rush of gratitude; Lex may be a bit zany and odd, but she packed a lot of heart beneath that crazy exterior.

"Come on, let's get back to the lab," she said, jerking her head toward the door. Bray followed, but as they stepped onto the pavement, a small bundle of fur looped beneath their feet and took off down the path. Bray stared after it; it looked like a small lion-cub-like pokemon, with black and blue fur, and a yellow star on the end of its tail. The pokemon had a hat clamped in its mouth.

"What's that?" asked Bray, staring after the pokemon as it dashed away around the corner into another street, disappearing from sight. Lex giggled as she looked at it.

"Isn't it cute? That's a Shinx, an electric type pokemon."

"Stop that Shinx!" A voice cried out and a small boy ran up to them. He was covered in sweat, and his face was bright red. Lex caught him by the shoulders as he ran by.

"Woah, Zip, what's wrong?"

"That Shinx stole my favourite hat!" cried the boy. "I was trying to play with it when it zapped me and ran off with my cap."

Lex winked at the kid. "No problem, Zip, we'll get it back, right Hotshot?"

Bray smiled confidently at the boy. "Right. Let's split up and search for it."

Nodding, Lex ran down the street with Zip in tow, while Bray went the other way. Unfortunately, Sandgem Town was larger than it looked, and he found himself running around the empty streets with no idea of where to look. Above him, the sun grew closer to the horizon, and the time ticked over to 4:00.

"Where the bloody hell is that Shinx?" he grunted five minutes later. "It's good at hiding, that's for sure."

"Bui, Bui!" said Jett, and ran down his arm to the ground, sniffing the pavement. Suddenly, it sprung away, dashing down the street. Bray followed hurriedly after it. Jett spun around the corner into the main street, and stopped outside a house, looking at the garden. Bray caught up to his pokemon and followed its gaze; the bushes were rustling.

"There it is!" he smirked, proud of Jett's sense of smell. "Good job, buddy. Now, use your Water Gun on that bush!"

"_Bui!"_

Jett opened its mouth and a powerful stream of water fired from its throat, looking much like water from a hose. The high-force jet of water smashed through the frail twigs and leaves, covering the Shinx hiding within. As Jett ceased the spray, Shinx stumbled from the garden out onto the road, dazed. The hat was still clenched in its teeth.

"…Shiiiinx…" it groaned, dizzy from the Water Gun attack. Suddenly, the small lion cub shook its head to clear its thoughts and growled at Bray and Jett, who both growled back.

"You found it!" said a familiar voice, and before he knew it Lex was standing behind him, the kid accompanying her. "Now, get that hat back, before it gets ruined."

"You got it," said Bray, and turned to the Shinx. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his sunglasses and slid them on. "Jett, Quick Attack!"

The Buizel dashed forward as fast as it could, and collided hard with the Shinx, knocking it backwards. Shinx rolled on the ground, but climbed back up. Small sparks crackled around it, but it couldn't sustain them for long.

"It isn't experience enough to channel electricity yet," exclaimed Lex. "Hotshot, finish it off!"

"Water Gun!"

A second jet of water smashed into Shinx, who let out a cry of pain, opening its mouth and sending Zip's favourite hat flying through the air. Bray reached up and caught it.

"Hotshot, use one of the pokeballs now, while it's still down!" said Lex excitedly, caught up in Bray's success. Bray quickly reached into the bag she'd handed him and pulled out a red and white sphere, with a small button on it. Pressing the button, the ball enlarged to the size of a baseball, and Bray hurled it at the Shinx, who was still lying on the ground, dazed.

The pokeball hit the Shinx on the head and burst open, surrounded the pokemon with a white light, which was then sucked into the ball. Shinx, trapped inside, was too out of it to struggle, and after rocking the ground a few times, the ball lay still. As Bray watched, the button glowed, and Shinx was caught.

"Yes!" shouted Bray, punching the air. "I caught Shinx."

"Bui!" Jett looked smug, and folded its arms, as if to say "I'm so great".

Lex stepped forwards and picked the pokeball off the ground, handing it to Bray. Her face was bright, absorbing the excitement coming from Bray. "Congratulations, B-Boy. Your first capture! Take good care of it, you hear me?"

She winked. Laughing, Bray took the pokeball and grinned down at it, enraptured by his own achievement. Suddenly remembering something, he turned to Zip and passed him the hat Shinx had been carrying.

"Here you go, kid," he said, watching as the boy jammed the cap onto his head, grinning madly.

"Thanks, big guy!" he said, and ran off. "Gotta go! Bye!"

Lex laughed after him, and turned to Bray, who was still basking in his own glory.

"Come on, Hotshot, let's go back to the lab. Professor Boring will want to know what took us so long, and I need to ask him a few things about you."

As Bray fell into step behind the girl, he shrunk the pokeball using the button and put it in his pocket, along with his sunnies.

"_What a feeling," _he thought. "_So this is what being a trainer feels like!"_

**000**

OMFG , I AM SO GLAD I FINALLY GOT THIS DONE! It feels like forever since I last updated, and it's entirely because of my own laziness. I know, I'm ashamed *hides face*.

Anyway, it felt a little boring at the start, but I feel like it perked up a lot once they got out of the lab. It sure was fun writing the second half ;) So now Bray's registered to be a trainer, and he's officially caught his first pokemon! The journey's begun at last!

Well, that's all I have to say. Feel free to check out my other stories, and tell me what you thought of this chapter in a review ;) Remember, every one makes me feel alive! Oh, by the way, I started a Fictionpress account, under the name Animaster21, so feel free to check it out. I've only got one story, a guide on how to get rid of bad dreams.

See ya!


	5. Banding Together

**Pokemon**

**Passion For Glory**

OK, I'm gonna get this chapter out as soon as I can. Starting now, I'm going to write at least 500 words a day, so a chapter should appear at least once a week (3500 words). Let's see how long I can go before _that _plan falls to pieces.

So…what to say now…I can't think of anything…

On with the chapter!

**000**

The sun lurked closer and closer to edge of the world as the door to Professor Rowan's laboratory burst open with a crash, and Alexis Greene swaggered in, green eyes blazing with their usual carefree air.

"Oi, Gramps!" she bellowed, turning every head in the lab. "We're back!"

Bray didn't know whether to laugh or grimace as he stepped over the threshold, settling on a fond grin as he once again remembered his successful capture of the Shinx running rampart around town. For the hundredth time, he felt his leg, feeling the lump in his pocket where the pokeball holding his newest family member sat. Jett the Buizel sat on his shoulder as always, and rubbed against his neck in affection.

Professor Rowan emerged from one of the doors on either side of the staircase, moustache bristling in complete fury as he stormed towards Lex. Bray blanched; the Professor looked to be in a bad mood.

"That's _enough_, Ms Greene. I've given you enough warnings, so this time, be sure to listen. Knock before you enter,_ do you understand!"_

Lex winked at him. Bray had to admire her bravery; either she was incredibly insolent, was deliberately ignoring the Professor's obvious displeasure, or was genuinely clueless. Bray guessed that it was probably the first or second.

"_Maybe a mixture of both," _he thought to himself.

"Sorry, Drybones. Anyways, Me and B-Boy have a lot to tell you. He's all registered in the Sinnoh League Database, and Hotshot here managed to pull off a capture already."

"Excuse me?" responded Rowan, momentarily forgetting his anger at this news. The Professor looked at Bray with curiosity and respect. "You've captured a pokemon?"

Bray nodded, once again swelling with pride at his own accomplishment. "It's a Shinx, Professor."

Rowan nodded in recognition. "Well, congratulations, Mr Rhen. I must say you've impressed me."

He turned away to the wall, where a large ornate clock hung. It had an interesting design; each number was exquisitely carved, and the hands had gems in them; a blue diamond for the Minute Hand, and a pink pearl for the Hour Hand. In the exact centre of the clock, where the two hands met, a stunning platinum orb was engraved into the clock face. At the present time, the clock read 4:15.

The Professor looked at the time, before turning back to Bray. "Not much remains of the day, I'm afraid. If you are to get back to Jubilife before dark, you must leave in fifteen minutes."

Bray was taken aback. He had to leave so soon? But he had no idea what to do, where to go! There were so many things he still needed to know about being a pokemon trainer.

Lex asked one of his questions right then and there.

"Say, Gramps, does B-Boy get a Pokedex?"

Rowan thought for a second. "I don't have one prepared, I'm afraid. This is all rather short notice after all; but you will receive a Pokedex, young Brayden. To go on a journey without one would put you at a disadvantage."

"Really? That's so awesome!" exclaimed Bray. He had seen Lex's small device after leaving the Pokemon Centre, and she had told him then of what it could do.

"Indeed…but as I said, I do not have a Pokedex prepared for you. But while you were gone, I devised a suitable arrangement. When were you planning on leaving Jubilife for your journey?"

Bray opened his mouth, but then closed it again. He hadn't actually planned that far ahead. "I…don't really know."

Rowan hid a smile. "I thought as much. Here's my suggestion. You wait a week from today before leaving. That should give you enough time to prepare for your journey and cancel any other commitments or appointments you have. I should be able to program the Pokedex in that time as well. I'll have it delivered to you sometime this week, and then you can leave on the 1st of next month, seven days from now. Is this acceptable?"

Bray nodded enthusiastically. It was definitely acceptable; he had an entire week left to spend with his friends before leaving, as well as to prepare for his journey. "Yep."

Rowan nodded as well, and extended his hand out to Brayden. "I've enjoyed your company while you've been here, Mr Rhen. I look forward to seeing how you progress through your life."

Bray took the Professor's hand, shaking it. "Thanks for everything, Professor Rowan."

"The pleasure's all mine, young man. Take care of yourself on your journey; it wouldn't be well for you to get into _too_ much trouble, would it? Oh yes, do you want anything before you leave?"

Bray thought for a second. "Got any more of those hotdogs?"

Rowan let out a booming laugh, and turned around to where some of his assistants stood at a nearby examining table, inspecting a plant. "Leroy, you heard the boy."

Cotton hurried upstairs to the lounge area, returning a minute later with two buns, complete with frankfurters and tomato sauce. Grinning fondly, he handed them to Bray, who stared at the hotdogs with delight and hunger.

"Here you go, Brayden," he said.

"Thanks," answered the teenager, and tore an enormous chunk out of one of the dogs, annihilating a quarter of it in a single bite.

"Now, be on your way, Mr Rhen," said Rowan. "Ms Greene, would you accompany him to the edge of town? And for God's sake, _behave yourself."_

Lex winked at Bray, and together the two of them left the laboratory, beginning the walk towards Route 202. Bray stared back at laboratory. Such a plain and uninteresting building sure held some amazing futures…

Suddenly, Bray was reminded of similar words spoken by another man, Gamma of Team Epsilon. The man had spoken of the nondescript town itself being home to great legends and famous people. Bray frowned…just who exactly _was_ Gamma, and why had he come to Sandgem?

"I guess it'll be a while until we see each other again, huh?" said Lex, her tone bright despite the negativity of the words. "Shame…oh well, it's not like we're married, right?"

Bray laughed, the thoughts of Gamma disappearing. "You're so weird," he joked.

"I like being weird; it's the same as unique."

Ten minutes later, the two adolescents arrived at the edge of town, at the base of the large hill leading to Route 201. Bray remembered standing on top of the hill that morning, looking down at Sandgem Town in all of its glory.

It had also been the first time he had seen Lex, the girl surfing up the beach and landing on the sand.

That thought reminded Bray of all he had been through today; what had started out as a normal day had quickly taken a different road than normal with the unexpected arrival of Chase, and now look what had developed! It was really quite interesting, not to mention extremely fortunate. If Chase hadn't shown up, it would have been the same old boring day it was every day.

Once again, Bray was shaken out of his thoughts by Lex, as she tapped him on the cheek, as she had done to Rowan earlier in the day. "Good luck," she said, closing her eyes as she smiled. "I'll be rooting for you in the Sinnoh League Tournament."

Bray laughed. "Thanks. You've done a lot for me today."

Lex winked. "No problem, Hotshot. Toodles."

She turned and walked back to town, turning back to wave before she turned a corner and disappeared from sight.

Alone for the first time, Bray sighed, surprising himself.

"Come on, Brayden," he said. "You have so much ahead of you."

Strengthened by his own words, he looked to Jett riding on his shoulder, and scratched the otter under the chin. Jett nuzzled up against his hand.

"Bui!"

Bray didn't need to be a pokemon to understand his friend. Nodding in agreement, he turned to Route 201, and walked onto the path.

"Let's go home, buddy."

**000**

If the sun had been low in the sky when they had gotten back to Rowan's lab, it was practically non-existent by the time Bray caught sight of Jubilife City. Rising over another small crest, the lit windows of Jubilife's skyscrapers very suddenly came into view, shining in the growing darkness.

Bray was exhausted. As he had walked, the strain of the day had caught up with his body, having previously been pushed aside by his excitement and by the continuous events. Once again, his feet were hurting and he was beginning to grow weary.

"Not long to go, guys," he said, looking at Jett on his shoulder, and then at the small lion-cub pokemon trotting along on the path next to his feet. About ten minutes after leaving Sandgem Town, Bray had released his newly acquired Shinx from its pokeball, letting the pokemon happily join him as they walked.

Shinx was very energetic, further cementing Bray's growing suspicions that Shinx was very young. It was very small and light; when he had picked it up to examine it at one point (Shinx happily wriggled in his grasp and licked his fingers) he had easily held in one hand, holding it under the belly.

But like all young children – or animals – Shinx's energy had soon drained quite quickly, and it now looked up at Bray.

"Shinx…" it whined.

Bray smiled, and picked it up, carrying the small pokemon in his arms. "Tired, little guy? Fine, I'll carry you the last little bit."

Shinx made a happy little expression and licked his fingers. Bray nearly dropped it, his ticklish fingers spasming away from the blue pokemon's tongue.

Soon, he reached the final road to Jubilife, and the dirt beneath his feet turned to gravel and asphalt. Before long, he was walking down roads and streets in the massive city, automatically following a memorised path through the buildings. He knew the city like the back of his hand, and took the most direct route to the building where he and his mother lived.

But of course, he should have predicted that he wouldn't get there unseen. As he walked through the Town Square – the same place Chase had easily defeated Turk earlier in the day – two voices cried out in unison.

"Bray!"

The boy turned his head towards one of the park benches placed under the trees lining the square, to see two people waving and beckoning for him. Bray grinned as he saw them, and made his way to their bench, placing Shinx on the ground. Jett stayed in his place of pride on Bray's shoulder.

Sitting on the left was Bray's best friend currently still living in town. Ozzie Scuito was shorter than an average child of fourteen, and had spiky brown hair that was almost permanently covered by his cap, which had a lightning bolt shocking a pokeball on the front. Add in Ozzie's massive blue eyes and he looked even younger.

Ozzie was well-known as one of the most annoying people in town, but only to people he didn't like. He had the ability to make the best out of any situation and had a knack for wriggling out of trouble. Also, he was one hell of a dancer.

Sitting next to him, clutching at a small book, was Tasmin Westwood, or Taz for short. The complete opposite of Ozzie, Taz was normally pretty quiet, but was intensely fascinated with pokemon and their biology and behaviour. Bray guessed that that sort of thing just came naturally when your mother is the teacher at the local Pokemon School.

Taz had long straight black hair, held back with a pink band across her forehead. She wore perfectly round glasses, and was almost always seen with some sort of book or notepad in her possession. It was Taz's dream to find out all there was to know about pokemon, and had the ability to tell a pokemon's type and ability just by looking at them. She had a fantastic memory, and was top in the class at Pokemon School.

Sitting on the ground beside Taz, holding its head with a dazed expression of its face, was Taz's Psyduck. The slow-thinking yellow duck pokemon slowly moved its head from side to side.

"Hey guys," grinned Bray, as he reached them. "What's up?"

"What's up?" answered Ozzie, staring at Bray like he was a whole different person. "You're a trainer, that's what's up! Wow, Bray, I still can't believe it!"

"Huh?" replied Bray, confused. "How do you guys know about that? I only just got back…"

"We saw Chase as he headed through town," said Taz, eyes wide. "He told us what happened. You're so lucky."

"You saw Chase?" Bray felt a sudden dash of hope. "Is he still in Jubilife, or has he left already?"

Taz and Ozzie both shrugged. "We dunno," said Ozzie. "He said what happened in Sandgem and then just disappeared."

"Oh…"

"Forget about him for now," said Ozzie. "Tell us about you! Are you really going on a journey? That's so cool! You'll get to go all around Sinnoh and see all the towns and cities and mountains and stuff."

Ozzie looked envious. It was common knowledge that Ozzie's greatest wish was to travel around; he loved seeing new places. To go on a pokemon journey would be the perfect opportunity.

"Yeah, I'm really going on a journey," said Bray, smiling ruefully at his friend's entrapment in the city. "I'm leaving in a week."

Taz looked sad. "Only a week? Wow…after you leave, it'll be really quiet around here…"

Bray felt bad, realising that he was doing to Ozzie and Taz exactly what Chase had done to him. Mentally, he swore to visit home a lot more often than his friend did.

Suddenly, Taz's face brightened. "You're going to be meeting a lot more pokemon now that you're a trainer," she said. She loved studying pokemon, and wanted to be a researcher as she grew older. It was one of the reasons she idolised Professor Rowan so much.

Bray grinned. "I know. Actually, I've already met one."

He gestured to the ground, alerting his two friends to the presence of Shinx. The small electric pokemon gave a happy little growl and looked up at them, smiling.

"Ooh, it's a Shinx!" exclaimed Taz, sliding off the park bench and kneeling on the ground. As Bray and Ozzie watched, eyebrows raised, she felt the pokemon's fur, examined its teeth, and scratched behind its ears. Shinx looked surprised by the study of its body, but rubbed its head against her hands when she finished.

"It's really healthy," Taz announced, tickling the Shinx under the chin. "And it's only a baby."

"I thought so," said Bray. "It can't conduct electricity very well yet."

"You'll train it though, won't you Bray?" piped up Ozzie. "You'll make it really strong, I bet. One day you'll beat Chase, I know it."

Bray laughed. "I hope so, right Jett?"

"Bui, bui bui!"

A silence fell over the trio for a few seconds, before suddenly Ozzie let out a small cry and clenched its fists in exasperation.

"Argh, I can't just stand here while you and Chase travel the country and have fun! I'm sick of living here! I'm coming with you!"

Bray took a few seconds to register exactly what Ozzie had said, before breaking into a wide smile. "What? Really?"

Ozzie nodded, scowling. "And don't you dare say no."

"Why would I say no? That's awesome!"

"Um…" murmured Taz, standing up and looking nervous. "If you don't mind, Bray….could I come as well? I promise I won't hold you back."

Bray was confused. Why was she so scared? "Of course you can come. The more the merrier, I reckon."

Taz's small face lit up, eyes shining behind her glasses. "Thanks Bray!"

Ozzie punched the air. "This is so awesome, I can barely take it. I'm finally gonna get out of this place and explore!"

Suddenly, the diminutive explorer extended his arm, pointer finger a few centimetres from Taz's face. She took a few steps back, intimidated.

"What?"

"This is gonna be a wild ride, Taz. I need to know if you can take it…"

Taz's eyes widened, her timid features looking more and more exaggerated. "Are you asking for a battle?"

Ozzie nodded smugly, arms folded. Bray looked excited at the prospect of his friends having a battle.

"This is gonna be great!" he exclaimed. "Let's do it right now, here in the square. Are you both ready? I'll referee."

"I'm ready," said Ozzie, looking at Taz.

The girl looked nervously at her Psyduck sitting dopily on the ground. "A battle? I'm not sure…"

"Oh, come on!" cried Ozzie. "It'll be great. I've always wanted to beat you. I want to see if that big brain of yours can help you in a fight."

Taz considered for a full thirty seconds, before finally nodding timidly. "I guess…but…I'm not very good at this."

Two minutes later, they were in position. On one side of the centre of the square, in the same spot Chase had stood earlier that day, Taz stood, looking very small and deflated.

In complete contrast, on the other side of the square was Ozzie, looking completely confident and ready.

And between them, on a third side, was Bray. By his feet stood Jett and Shinx. Jett was just as excited as Bray, while Shinx looked on in awe as the two trainers stared at each other. It had never seen two trainers have a battle before.

"OK," said Bray. "Let's get this thing on the road."

Ozzie took his only pokeball from his pocket, and threw it into the air wildly. It went slightly off course, but still burst open, sending a spear of white light to the ground, where it formed into a small rough ball shape. It was a dull grayish-brown colour, with two arms poking from either side of its rocky body.

"Let's shake things up, Geodude!" shouted Ozzie, pointing at Taz.

Taz looked at Geodude, and gave Psyduck a small push.

"Come on, Psyduck," she said. "Let's show him that he's not all that."

"Psy!"

At the sight of its opponent, Psyduck perked up, running forwards onto the battlefield. The two pokemon stared each other down, Geodude's fierce black eyes staring into Psyduck's dopey ones.

Bray considered the two pokemon. Geodude was Rock and Ground, presenting a double weakness to Psyduck's Water type. But then again, as far as he knew, Taz's Psyduck didn't know any Water moves…it would come down to strategy then, or maybe raw strength.

"Start!"

Ozzie pointed. "Geodude, use your Tackle attack now! Hit it as hard as you can!"

"Dude, Geodude!"

The living rock thumped forward, bouncing rapidly towards the duck facing it. Psyduck simply stared at the approaching pokemon as it came, and tilted its head to the side.

"Psy!" it cried as Geodude smashed into it. Psyduck was knocked backwards, hopping comically on one foot before finally overbalancing, crashing to the ground.

"Oh no, Psyduck, are you OK?" cried Taz. "Come on, you can get back up, I know you can."

And indeed it did. Psyduck struggled to its feet and stared angrily at Geodude. Ozzie laughed.

"Too easy!" he exclaimed. "We've got this match in the bag, Geodude. Tackle attack again!"

Once again, Psyduck was thrown off its feet as Geodude slammed into it. Bray grimaced. It looked like Taz didn't stand a chance. She needed to start fighting back quickly or this battle was going to finish very soon…

"Taz!" he called. "Tell Psyduck to attack, or dodge or something!"

Taz seemed to take heart at his words. She turned back to the battle, and watched as Psyduck got up again. Its eyes narrowed angrily as it stared at Geodude.

"OK, Psyduck," Taz said. "We can do it. Doubleslap, now!"

"Geodude, Defence Curl!"

Psyduck waddled quickly forwards, eyes fierce at is lunged forward, yellow palms raised. Quickly, Geodude rolled into a ball, clenching its body with arms and shielding its face. As Psyduck's slaps rained down upon it, almost no damage was taken by the rock pokemon.

Ozzie laughed. "No good, Taz! Now, Geodude, use Tackle once more and finish it off!"

Geodude unravelled its hands from its body and threw itself at Psyduck. Taz's eyes widened as Psyduck stared dopily at the incoming Geodude, hands on its head.

"_If that attack hits, Psyduck might not have the energy to get back up again!" _thought Bray, watching tensely.

Suddenly, Taz cried out in a mixture of fear and desperation. "Psyduck, use Disable!"

"Huh?" gasped Ozzie, but he could only watch in surprise as Psyduck's eyes glowed blue, the air around its head distorting. The next thing he knew, Geodude had been caught by some sort of force, crashing to the ground, frozen in place by Psyduck's psychic energy. "What's Disable?"

"Now, Psyduck, use Confusion!" ordered Taz.

What happened next was very surprising. Psyduck let out a loud cry of "Psy!", and its eyes glowed blue once more. Suddenly, Geodude was picked up from the ground and hurled across the square, hitting a tree. It crashed to the ground, eyes crossed.

"Geodude is out!" shouted Bray, unable to believe it. "That was amazing!"

"_Whhaaaaat!" _Ozzie flipped, waving his arms crazily as he stared with wide eyes at Ta and Psyduck, who had fallen backwards onto its rump, once again holding its head and looking dopey. "How did you beat me and Geodude?"

Taz smiled shyly, and shrugged. "I just got lucky, I guess."

"Taz, that was incredible!" gasped Bray as he ran over to her. "Since when did Psyduck know Confusion, anyway?"

Taz shook her head. "It used it because of the situation. When Psyduck are in danger, their headache's get worse, heightening their psychic powers. I don't even know how I knew to use Confusion, it just slipped out, I guess…"

Bray looked at her with new respect. He'd never actually seen Taz battle before, despite her being one of his best friends.

"_I guess that with all that theory she does, it's just natural,"_ he thought, smiling to himself.

"Bui!"

**000**

Bray stepped into his apartment, walking down the small hallway into the main living room. Due to the abundance of buildings, the apartments in Jubilife were pretty much the size of regular single-storey houses. Jumping off his shoulder, Jett ran down the hall into his bedroom, Shinx following close behind.

Bray's mother was in the kitchen, cooking dinner. As she heard him enter, she turned around, smiling.

"Hello," she said. "Good to see you're back. Did you have fun with Chase?"

Bray nodded uncomfortably. This was the hard part…

"Mum," he said. "There's something I need to tell you about. I made a decision today…"

His mother gave an incredibly sigh, turning away from him and facing the oven. "I know what you've decided."

"You know?"

"Yes. Chase stopped by and told me everything."

Bray fell silent. He didn't really know what to say. Suddenly, his mother turned back to him. Her eyes were glistening, but she had a proud smile on her face.

"Mum?"

"Make me proud, Brayden. You can go."

Bray moved across the room, pulling his Mum into a hug. He was taller than her by a full head. Breaking out of the hug, she reached up and ruffled his hair, still carrying that sad yet happy smile on her face.

"We'll begin preparing tomorrow, alright? We have a lot to do."

The two of them sat down at the table, waiting for the dinner to finish cooking. As if by sheer coincidence, she was cooking hotdogs. Or maybe she had chosen them on purpose. Bray didn't really know.

"Promise me you'll call?" asked Mum, and Bray nodded.

"Definitely. And I'll visit as much as I can as well. Don't worry about us, we'll be fine."

"We?"

"Yeah, Ozzie and Taz have decided to come as well."

Mum laughed, but wiped a tear from her eye. "I should have known. Those two would follow you to the end of the Earth, you know."

"What do you mean?"

"They look up to you. You're their best friend, the leader. Don't lead them the wrong way."

"I won't."

Mum wiped another tear away. "I'd better call your father as well. Tell him the good news."

Bray frowned. "You're gonna call Dad…?" he asked hesitantly. That didn't sound like a pleasant conversation. Since divorcing several years before, his parents rarely spoke. Bray's father, Raymond Rhen, was a scientist. Who knew what he was working on; Bray didn't see him enough to know. His father wasn't exactly the type to spend quality time with. He was a nice guy, only he was too caught up in his research to hang out.

Mum smiled sadly again. "Look. I know you think we hate each other, but we don't. Your father and I just don't fit together. We still talk occasionally, you know. We're not about to get back together, but we're still friends. He'll be proud of you, Bray. I know he will be."

**000**

That night, Bray stared at his ceiling as he lay in bed, reflecting on the day. Jett and Shinx lay next to him, curled up together. The two had made fast friends together.

And what a day it had been; seeing Chase's skills first hand, travelling with his oldest friend to Sandgem Town. Being attacked by a Starly, only for Jett to come to his rescue. That first sight of Sandgem, with its magnificent beach to the South.

And then Rowan's lab! What an amazing place. All the scientists working together, studying the pokemon in the lab. And Rowan himself, patient and kind, but efficient and gruff at the same time. Meeting Lex; what a blast that had been! The girl sure had been something else, with her blonde-tipped black hair, and her freckles, and that eye-closed smile of hers.

And then, the three of them – Bray, Chase, and Lex – had journeyed to Lake Verity in search of the Legendary Pokemon Mesprit, only to end the search in a battle against Chase. The older boy had amazed him with his skills, Monferno effortlessly taking down Jett without taking any damage at all.

And then the journey back. Meeting Gamma outside the lab had been an ominous encounter, and soon after Chase had left to investigate. And there, at the lab, Bray had made his decision to become a trainer. After that, Lex had taken him around to get registered for the Sinnoh League, and there he had caught Shinx, tracking it down using Jett's sense of smell and then defeating it in battle, before catching it in one of the pokeballs Lex had given him.

And then the journey home, ending with the battle between Taz and Ozzie, and telling his mother his decision.

And then eating the hotdogs for dinner…

Yep, it'd been one hell of a day, no question about it. Bray turned onto his side and looked at his two pokemon, fast asleep beside him. They looked so peaceful, lying together. Smiling contently, Bray closed his eyes as well.

This morning he had woken up an ordinary teenager in a boring city life.

Now he was a pokemon trainer.

**000**

Huzzah, I managed to churn out this chapter in one week. That's a first…Anyway, as I said at the beginning of the chapter, I'm gonna be writing at least 500 words a night, so hopefully I'll be able to update this quickly all the time now.

So, how'd you all like the chapter. Be sure to tell me in a review ;) I love every one of them. I thought this one was pretty good, but you tell me.

And we met Taz and Ozzie! Well, technically, that's not true; we met them both in chapter 1. But now they're fully fledged main characters. Lucky them, eh?

Well, that's all I can think of to crap on about. I guess I'll see you all next chapter.

As Lex would say; Toodles!


	6. A Shocking Battle!

**Pokemon**

**Passion For Glory**

I have a feeling that this 500 words a day thing is really working…so far. Let's see how it turns out, eh? Hopefully well.

Anyways, once again I can't really think of anything to say…I need to come up with some topics of conversation, don't I?

On with the chapter!

**000**

_Psshh! Psshh! Psshh!_

_Clang! Clang! Clang!_

The loud clangs echoed through the abandoned parking lot, as Jett fired several bursts of water at the cans lined up on the roof of the car wreck nearby. Almost all of them hit, some shots flying past the cans and hitting the brick wall of the warehouse, splashing against the fired clay.

"Good aiming, Jett!" complimented Bray. He was standing behind the small otter as it practised, putting the cans back in place after every round. In the past six days, Jett's aim had improved impressively, but it still missed a lot. Standing faithfully by Bray's side was Shinx, watching Jett practise in awe.

"Alright, Jett….Water Gun, go!"

"Bui!"

_Psshh! Psshh! Psshh!_

_Clang! Clang! Clang!_

The water smashed into the tin cans, knocking them all backwards. Bray grinned; it had been a perfect round, every can hit. Jett looked smug, folding its arms and whirring its two tails around. It looked at Shinx, as if to say "That's how it's done".

"Alright, Jett, take a break for now," said Bray, and Jett relaxed, abandoning the tough guy persona.

They were training in the lot behind the old warehouses, which had been shut down a year before. With no people in charge to tell him to get lost, and all of the equipment that had been left behind, the lot was the perfect place to train in.

Bray knelt down and patted Shinx on the head, smiling warmly as the little cub growled in pleasure. "You ready for some more practise, Shinx?"

Shinx nodded eagerly. Due to its young age, it still had some difficulty controlling its electrical attacks, unable to fully conduct them. During the week's training, Bray had focussed on developing its elemental strength, with the help of Taz's knowledge of pokemon raising.

"Alright then," said Bray, and scoured the area, looking for a target. Spying something, he began shifting a pile of wreckage, eventually tugging a few old hubcaps from under the pile.

"Let's use these for practising on," he said, putting them on the ground near the car that Jett had been shooting the cans off, before picking up the top hubcap. "I've got an idea to train with. First, use Charge to build up your electricity, and then tackle the hubcap when I throw it into the air, alright?"

"Shinx!"

Jett patted Shinx on the back, giving it a confident smile. Shinx smiled too, and looked at Bray, wagging its body from side to side.

"Ready? Alright, Shinx. Charge!"

Shinx concentrated extremely hard, screwing up its little face, and blue sparks flashed all around its body, crackling around its paws. Slowly, the sparks grew more and more frequent, before Shinx finally reached full charge, blue electricity sparking around it.

"Now, use Tackle on this hubcap!" instructed Bray, and threw it like a frisbee. The steel plate flashed through the air, spinning three metres above the ground. Shinx crouched down on its tiny paws, and then sprung into the air, leaping towards the hubcap. Blue electricity still hummed around it, but to Bray's dismay, the pokemon fell short a full metre from the hubcap.

Losing control of its jump, Shinx panicked as its target sailed over its head, missing completely. Still two metres in the air, Shinx gave a cry as it fell wildly to the ground, electricity sparking out and vanishing.

"Shiiiinx!"

At the last second, Jett sprung forwards, position itself under Shinx and cushioning the cub's fall. Unfortunately for Jett, this ended up with it lying on the ground with Shinx on top of it.

The small electrical lion looked around in confusion, but then let out a large giggle, standing back up and wiggling its behind in excitement.

"Shinx, Shinx, _Shinx!"_

Bray laughed as Jett climbed to its feet, dazed, at both the state of the otter and Shinx's enthusiasm.

"Nice catch, Jett" he said, patting Shinx on the head and scratching Jett under the chin at the same time. He looked at Shinx. "I guess you can't jump that high, huh? Oh well, you'll get better soon. With enough training you can do anything, I reckon."

"Buuiii."

Bray sat back on his thighs, legs folded under his body as he looked at his two pokemon, proud of them both. "We're doing really well, guys. I can't wait for when we leave tomorrow."

Bray, Ozzie, and Taz were set to leave the next day, on the 1st of June. Like Bray's mother, his two friends' parents had both agreed to let their offspring accompany him on his journey. The three friends had been the subject of much talk among the other teenagers in the city, all of whom were pretty damn jealous. Bray remembered the same thing happening when Chase had left.

"You guys have tried really hard this week," he said, looking at his new Poketch, given to him by his mother the day before. Taz and Ozzie had gotten one each from their parents as well. The small readout on the pokemon watch said 2:45. "Also, we need to rest for tomorrow. Let's take the rest of the day off, alright?"

Jett closed its eyes and gave a content sigh, leaning backwards against the cars. Shinx laid down on the ground next to it, and Bray smiled. Why not relax too? Crawling over to the car, he sat down next to his pokemon, stretching his legs out across the concrete of the abandoned lot, closing his eyes as a light wind swept his messy blond hair around, making it even more messy. Annoyed at his new hairstyle, he ruffled his hand through the hair, restoring it to its former design.

"Am I really ready for this, guys?" he asked quietly, opening his eyes suddenly. All of a sudden, the potential pressures of being a pokemon trainer were presenting themselves to him, and they were big; what if he wasn't good enough? What if his pokemon got badly injured? What if he and the others got lost on the road? What if a dangerous powerful pokemon that they couldn't handle attacked them?

His train of thought was suddenly cut off by a voice, interrupting his momentary minor panic.

"Here you are; Taz and Ozzie were right."

Bray turned his head to the road next to the lot, finding himself looking up at a tall boy standing by the entrance to the lot. He had a snide pimply face, with long knobbly legs and red hair.

"Oh," said Bray glumly, grimacing inside. "Hi, Turk. How's it hanging?"

He hadn't seen the 17-year-old since Chase had defeated Turk's Dustox handily with his Staravia.

"_Hiding his face, probably," _thought Bray, as Turk walked over, standing over the boy on the ground.

"I heard that you're leaving, right? Following in Chase's footsteps…"

"Whatever you say, Turk." Bray and Turk weren't actively hostile, but weren't what you'd call friends. They got on well enough, but Bray still thought Turk was an annoying brat.

Turk scowled slightly, but didn't retaliate…well, not directly…

"Since you're a trainer now, you're gonna need as much experience as possible…and since you're not going to be around anymore, we won't have this chance for a while."

Bray rolled his eyes. "I know what you're going to say; I'm surprised, actually. I didn't think you'd want to lose again. Not after what Chase did to you."

Turk flinched. "What, that match last week? He got lucky, I'm telling you. But that's not the point, will you battle me or not?"

Bray rolled his eyes. Turk always denied losing, always having some sort of far-fetched excuse for being beaten; getting lucky indeed.

"_Like he ever stood a chance against Chase,"_ Bray thought in disdain, and stood up, subconsciously flexing his fingers into fists. "_I'm gonna teach him a lesson."_

"Fine, I'll battle. Right here and right now. What're your conditions?"

"One on one, same as with Chase," replied Turk confidently. "We keep going until one pokemon gets too injured - unless you want to forfeit, that is."

"Yeah right," scoffed Bray, and looked down at his two pokemon. Jett looked pumped, but Bray also considered Shinx. The little electric lion still had trouble controlling its electricity, sure, but it was no pushover and Turk wasn't as strong as he made himself out to be.

"What do you say, Shinx? You up to it?"

"Shinx, Shinx!"

Shinx held its star-tipped tail in the air, and bared its teeth comically. Bray laughed. Shinx it was.

"Bui…."

Turk looked even more cocky. "Ha! You're choosing that little thing to battle my Dustox? I saw it before; fighting me with that little Shinx isn't the best decision you ever made, Bray. And that's saying something."

"Heh," smirked Bray, and tugged his pair of sunglasses from his pocket, sliding them onto his face. "We'll see who's laughing when I _kick…your…arse."_

"Whatever," said Turk, shaking his head as he looked at Bray and his sunnies. "Are we gonna do this or not, eh?"

They stood twenty metres apart; there was a large space in the lot devoid of wreckage. Back when the factories had regularly shifted merchandise, the space had been used to park trucks to load stock into, but after production was shut down, the blank spot was now empty, the perfect battleground.

"Alright, little guy," said Bray quietly, kneeling down behind Shinx and placing his hand on its back. "Don't go too hard, alright. I don't want you to get injured battling this jerk. If it gets too tough, I'll pull out for you, got it?"

Shinx looked at him, a doubtful expression on its face. _"How could it get to tough for ME?"_ its face seemed to say.

Opposite them, twenty metres away, Turk took a ball from his pocket and tapped the button on the sphere, enlarging the pokeball to full size.

"Go, Dustox!"

One flash of white light later and there was a large moth swooping over the lot. Bray grimaced; while he had an intense fear of bird pokemon, he didn't particularly dislike flying bugs, although in the case of Turk's Dustox he had to make an exception. It was disgusting, a bulging lumpy body with green wings sprouting from its sides. Six stubby red legs waggled grossly under its body, and its yellow eyes were dotted with black spots.

"You ready?" called Turk?

Bray wiped a drop of sweat sliding past the mole above his eye. "Bring it, Turkey."

Turk scowled; he hated it when people called him that. "Shut it, loser. Dustox, let's start this match off with a Poison Sting!"

Dustox flapped its wings, carrying its fat body through the air to hover near Shinx, who growled up at the foul moth. With a loud buzzing noise, Dustox flapped its wings faster, and suddenly shining purple darts fired from the centres of the rings on its wings.

"Shinx, get out of the way!" cried Bray, and Shinx leapt to the side, running wildly as Dustox followed, shooting stings in rapid bursts. Turk watched with a smirk on his face as Shinx hurriedly dodged the attacks.

"Shinx, Thundershock!" commanded Bray, knowing full well that Shinx might not have the time to generate the required electricity needed to perform the attack.

Shinx ran a loop around a small pile of wreckage, turning one hundred and eighty degrees so that it was facing Dustox, before small sparks began crackling around its legs.

"Go!"

"_SHIINX!"_

A weak burst of blue electricity jagged through the air, but connected with its target, giving Dustox a brief shock before Shinx lost its grip on the electricity, the sparks fading.

"Great job, Shinx!"

Turk scowled. "Shake it off, Dustox, and then use your Gust!"

The giant moth took a moment to regain its senses from the Thundershock, caught unawares by the attack. Recovering, it flapped its wings wildly, sending great gusts of wind streaking through the air, colliding with Shinx and lifting it a full metre of the ground. Shinx cried out as it was blown backwards by the powerful wind, flying through the air and smacking into Bray's belly.

Bray grunted as he stumbled backwards, Shinx rolling off his stomach and hitting the concrete. The lion cub gave a yelp of pain, and quickly rolled back to its feet.

Turk gave a triumphant bark of satisfaction. "Ha! Why don't you just give in, Bray? That little thing is tougher than I thought, but it still can't beat my Dustox. We're too good for you to win."

Bray grimaced as he recovered his stance, stomach aching slightly from Shinx colliding with him. "I don't think so, Turkey. Shinx, charge up your electricity, and keep it ready."

"Not so fast! Dustox, Stun Spore, go!"

Shinx began concentrating as it had before, sparks crackling all around its body, charging as much as it could as Dustox flew ominously towards it. As the moth flew over, its wings buzzed, sending a fine orange powder floating down over the ground. Bray held his tongue between his teeth as Dustox grew closer, the powder growing more and more thick.

"_Now!"_

"Shinx, Thundershock again!"

"_SSSHHHIIINNX!"_

As the weak blue bolt forked towards Dustox, Turk gave the command, and Dustox swooped to the side, this time prepared for the attack. And as it did so, Bray's heart leapt. Just as he'd hoped…

"Shinx, jump into the air and tackle Dustox!"

"What?" gasped Turk.

Everything was in position; after dodging the Thundershock, Dustox's back was to Shinx, and in its hurry, the Stun Spore had ceased. Its face screwed up with concentration, Shinx crouched down and shot off, leaping a full two metres into the air.

Bray swelled with pride. In practise not ten minutes ago, Shinx had missed the hubcap using the same technique. But now…

Sweat ran down Turk's face as he watched Shinx collide with Dustox, smashing the moth out of the air, a second before Shinx focussed its electricity, sending as many volts as it could through Dustox's body. The moth writhed under the scorching force, letting out a long loud buzz, before its wings folded up and it passed out.

Shinx landed on all four feet in front of Bray, panting heavily, as opposite him Dustox crashed to the cement, eyes crossed. Bray punched the air as Turk took a step back, unable to believe his eyes.

"W-What?" he stuttered. "B-But…w-what?"

"Haha!" laughed Bray, grabbing Shinx and lifting the pokemon into the air. Shinx growled happily, playfully yelping as it sailed around in Bray's hands. "Good job, little buddy. You aced that Charge."

"Bui, bui bui!"

Jett folded its arms, a reluctant smile on its face.

Meanwhile, Turk crouched down beside Dustox. After checking that his pokemon was alright, he held up a pokeball and withdrew the moth, before standing up straight and walking over to Bray, who noticed him approaching and put Shinx back in its pokeball, turning to face the older boy. To his surprise, Turk looked impressed.

"I guess you're better, huh," he muttered hesitantly, scratching the back of his head.

"I guess…you're pretty good too, though."

Turk looked more cheerful. "Thanks, Bray. You're definitely ready to be a trainer. I'm the one who needs more experience after all."

Bray jerked a thumb towards the road. "Come on, let's get out of here. We could both use a break after that battle, right?"

Turk grinned, and fell into step beside Bray. "That's for sure. Dustox and I are both wiped."

Together, they walked through the streets of Jubilife, leaving the industrial district of the city and moving into the residential area where they both lived. As the pair turned the corner around one of the streets, Bray frowned, and stopped walking. At his feet, Jett cocked its head curiously.

"What's that over there?" Bray murmured, pointing. Down the road, gathered in front of the Poketch Headquarters, was a small group of people – perhaps eight or nine - standing around a large space in the middle. Turk shrugged.

"Let's go check it out."

They joined the crowd, finding the source of the small group's interest. And there, the centre of attention, was…

"Ozzie?" exclaimed Bray. "What's going on?"

Ozzie spun as he heard Bray's voice. Anger and fury were etched across his face, his large blue eyes narrowed and screwed up. He also looked rather scared. Standing a metre away was Taz, looking much more frightened and intimidated.

"Bray!" Ozzie demanded. "Those jerks are trying to steal our pokemon!"

"What?" Bray followed Ozzie's accusing finger to see two men, also standing within the watching circle of people. Bray inspected them. The strangers both wore entirely black uniforms, and looked rough and unforgiving. One of them had a small goatee, but the other had a layer of stubble over his chin. Standing in front of the men were two pokemon unfamiliar to Bray.

Bray stepped into the fray, marching forwards and standing with Ozzie and Taz. "Who are they?" he muttered.

"I heard them talking," said Ozzie. "They mentioned Team Epsilon, so I asked what they were talking about, and they attacked me and tried to steal our pokemon. Me and Taz tried battling them, but they destroyed us!"

"Team Epsilon?" Bray was taken aback, turning back to the two men and staring with a new repulsion. "You work for Team Epsilon?"

The one on the right, the one with the stubble, laughed croakily. "That's right, you little brat. Are you going to nose in on our assignment like your annoying little friend here?"

Bray screwed up his face in anger, but it was only half sincere. Inside, he was shaking. "If that's what it takes!"

"Ha! Have it your way then, kid! Skorupi, Pin Missile, go!"

Bray shouted in alarm as the pokemon in front of the man scuttled forwards. It was a small scorpion, blue-ish purple, with two arms tipped with massive pincers. Another set of claws loomed over its head at the end of a tail.

"Bray, watch out!" screamed Taz. "It's attacking!"

Bray's eyes widened as the Skorupi's arm claws glowed bright white, before six shining pins fired from them, three of from each arm. The pins shot through the air towards Bray's chest.

"_Bui!"_

Jett leapt in the way of the darts, and grabbed onto Bray's chest, hugging the boy's body. As Bray watched in amazement, Jett's twin tails began to spin rapidly around in opposite directions, like blades of a fan. The pins slammed into the spinning tails and rebounded, striking harmlessly against the ground. Nevertheless, Jett winced.

"Wow…that was amazing, Jett. Thanks!" gasped Bray, unable to believe his pokemon's self-sacrifice. "Good thinking."

The Team Epsilon man with the goatee gave a small simpering laugh, and snapped his fingers. His pokemon, a small black dog with white bands around its legs and across its back, barked once, and bunched down on its haunches, preparing to leap.

"Ember, Houndour!"

The dog threw its head back, flames licking the sides of its mouth, before opening its jaw and spitting a small ball of flame at Jett, who was still clinging to Bray's shirt. The Pin Missile, despite being reflected, had injured the otter, and it panted heavily, unable to defend itself. Bray took a step back in fear as the fire shot forth…

"Dustox, use your Gust to blow the fire away!"

There was a bright flash of white light as Turk released his Dustox, which flew forwards and rapidly vibrated its wings, whipping up a fierce wind within seconds. The enemy's Ember attack was puffed out even as it approached, blown out of existence.

Bray spun to look at Turk, who ran forwards to join him. "I'm not going to let you have all the fun here, Bray," he declared. "Let's battle them together, alright?"

Bray grinned. The differences between him and Turk were a lot thinner than he had thought. "You got it." Suddenly, he frowned. "But your Dustox…it's still weak from the battle we had earlier."

Turk nodded seriously, not taking his eyes off the Team Epsilon members. "I know. But we have to try."

"Bray," said Taz. "These guys are really strong, be careful. You won't be strong enough!"

Bray shook his head, and grinned. "Oh, don't worry, I'm strong enough. After all the training we've been doing, I could take on anyone and win! In fact, I'm going to prove it right now…Jett, use Water Gun!"

"Buiiiiii!"

A torrent of water bucketed from Jett's mouth, aimed directly for the Houndour. But the Team Epsilon member was too quick.

"Houndour, dodge to the side!"

"Houn-_dour!"_

The dog crouched down and leapt over the water spray, a threatening bark tearing from its maw. It landed safely a few metres away.

"Pin Missile again," ordered the man with the stubble, and for the second time, six searing darts fired from Skorupi's pincers, firing through the air towards Jett.

"Dustox, shield Jett from Skorupi's attack!" cried Turk, and Dustox swooped down between Skorupi and Jett, buzzing angrily. "Confusion attack!"

Dustox's yellow eyes bulged, the black spots glowing purple, and suddenly the six incoming pins jerked to the side, striking the ground away from where they all stood.

"Great job, Dusto-"

"_Duuust!"_

Dustox made a loud whine as a ball of flame struck it, and the moth tumbled to the ground, wings fluttering uselessly. Turk watched in shock as his pokemon hit the asphalt, unconscious for the second time that day.

"Dustox!" he shouted, running to his pokemon and scooping it up. "Are you OK?"

A second later, with all the attention focussed on Turk and his Dustox, six white pins shot from Skorupi's claws and hit Jett full-on, blowing it backwards onto its stomach, grimacing in pain.

"Jett!"

The man with the stubble laughed roughly, and swaggered forwards, grabbing Bray by the front of the shirt and jerking him forwards. Bray found his face within inches of the man's, and fear blossomed inside him. He had lost, and now it seemed he would pay the price.

"Well, well, well," said the Epsilon grunt, his mouth curled into a cruel, smug grin. "Now that you're defenceless, I think I might take your pokemon too…"

Bray shook his head, grunting as his tightened collar restricted around his neck at the violent movement. "You're a jackass."

The man scowled, and lightly slapped Bray across the face, causing Taz to whimper and Ozzie to draw in breath. Bray put on the dirtiest face he could muster and looked at the man. "Bite me."

The man threw Bray away from him, his strength sending the considerably weaker and smaller teenager stumbling to the ground, rolling off his feet onto the tough road.

The man with the stubbled laughed, and held back his foot, ready to kick Bray as he lay on the road. Bray saw his stubbly face light up, when suddenly…

"Bozo, Doubleslap!"

A small pink and blue shape streaked into Bray's line of sight from behind him, colliding with the Epsilon's face. Two small hands sliced through the air:

_Sma-Smack!_

The man with the stubble yelped and staggered backwards, a tiny red handprint on each cheek, and the pink and blue shape backflipped several times before landing deftly on the ground in front if Bray, who scrambled to his feet and looked back in the direction that the pokemon had come from.

The sight made his eyes widen.

A girl, maybe just a little older than Bray, with black hair that had blond tips.

"Hey, great work, Bozo," giggled Lex, her green eyes closing, before snapping open again. "Now, bring it, you Epsilon scumbags!"

"Lex!" cried Bay.

"What the…! Who the hell are you?" shouted the man with stubble, still rubbing his cheeks tenderly. "I'll teach you for slapping me with that stupid pokemon of yours. Skorupi, Pin Missile!"

The darts exploded towards the girl, but with amazing reflexes and speed, Lex's pokemon leapt into the air between the girl and the attacking scorpion. Bray looked at the pokemon. It was about a foot tall, with a pink body and tall blue hair that spiralled around as it went up, making it look like a hat. On the very tip of its hair was a small white bauble.

On its face was a big red nose, and an identical red baube in the middle of its stomach. Two skinny pink arms sprouted from its tiny torso, and it had two tiny stubby legs, blue in colour.

Bray had seen this pokemon in a circus show on TV once. It was called Mime Jr.

"Bozo, use Barrier!"

In mid-air, the Mime Jr. – Bozo, its name seemed to be – waggled its arms furiously as if cleaning a window, and to Bray's surprise the air in front of it turned slightly opaque. With a series of clinks, the six pins bounced off the barrier, deflected for the third time.

Lex pointed confidently at the Houndour. "Now, use Copycat on that puppy dog! Pin Missile!"

Bozo's hands glowed bright white, and to the surprise of everybody watching, three shining darts identical to the ones used by Skorupi shot from each hand, for a total of six. The pins zigzagged through the air and pounded into Houndour's side. The dog howled in pain, cringing.

"Now, Bozo, Confusion attack!"

Bozo gave a happy cry in its high-pitched voice, and a glowing blue aura appeared around its arms. Suddenly, with a gesture from Bozo, Skorupi was lifted into the air and thrown at Houndour. The two pokemon smashed into each other, both knocked out at the same time.

"Argh! Who _are _you?" cried the man with the stubble. The goatee-guy was equally shocked. "Come on, let's go, damn it!"

The two called back their pokemon and began to run, when suddenly someone blocked their path.

"Shinx, Thundershock!" commanded Bray, standing in the way of the two criminals, Shinx by his side. After a few seconds of charging, Shinx unleashed the small bolt of electricity, zapping the two men with bright blue electricity. They cried out in pain and collapsed next to the each other, fainting on the spot from the attack.

"Yes!" shouted Bray. "We did it!"

Ozzie and Taz both breathed sighs of relief, and on the ground, Turk gave him the thumbs up, a wide grin on his face.

Lex walked over. "Nice thinking, Hotshot. You stopped those two in their tracks."

Suddenly, Bray remembered exactly who was standing in front of him. "Lex? What are you doing here, anyway?"

Lex laughed. "I came to deliver your Pokedex, of course! Professor Boring finished it off this morning and sent me to deliver it to you. But that's not the only reason I'm here."

"Huh? What's the other reason?"

Lex winked, her ever-present grin smeared across her face. "I'm coming with you, of course!"

**000**

YES! I actually managed to stick to a promise for once! OMG, I'm gonna do this all the time, writing 500 words a night really works. Half the time it gets me into a writing mood, which is why this is about 4500 words, lol.

Well, I'm pretty happy with this chapter. I'm trying to make the battles more similar to the anime, rather than the more generic battles from Aura Adventure. At least, I hope they're more similar…

And Lex returns! What's that she says? She's joining Bray, Ozzie, and Taz on their journey? What antics will ensue?

Well, farewell for now, and don't forget to tell me your thoughts in a review. See you in a week ;P


	7. The Journey Finally Begins

**Pokemon**

**Passion For Glory**

Hello.

On with the chapter!

Nah, just kidding. I actually have an announcement to make, which affects the story, so listen up. Come the 1st of November, I will be partaking in NaNoWriMo, a writing challenge to try and write a 50,000 word novel in a single month. Naturally, this is going to eat up pretty much all of my spare time, meaning that I won't be able to update any of my stories in the month that NaNoWriMo is taking place, from the 1st of November to midnight on the 30th. So be prepared for a month of no updates.

By the way, if you're not doing NaNoWriMo, I suggest you do, it should be great fun. Check out their website and read about it.

Now…On with the chapter!

**000**

Bray sighed as he plonked himself down onto his bed, looking sadly around his bedroom. Becoming a pokemon trainer was the greatest thing that had happened to him, but it came at a cost; leaving behind his previous life in Jubilife City, and leaving behind his mother and his home.

"I didn't think it would be this tough," he murmured to Jett and Shinx, who both sat beside him on the sheets. Shinx, only caught a week ago, wasn't attached to the room, but both Bray and Jett were rather taken aback at leaving behind the bedroom where they had lived for years.

The bookshelf with his pokemon books, the desk where he did his homework, the chair that he swung on without any regard for personal safety. Bray smiled sadly as he remembered all the times that his mother had told him to stop swinging on the chair. He would miss that.

And then there were the other things in the room. The wardrobr where his clothes hung, the TV mounted on the wall, the bed he now sat on. Even the alarm clock that lived on his dresser.

Bray stood up again, and walked to the corner of the room, where his two most-loved possessions sat; his two guitars. His electric and his acoustic. Feeling a sudden sense of being out of his depth, Bray picked up the acoustic and sat back down. Jett rubbed against his arm.

"Buuii…."

"I know, Jett. I'll miss home too. But all boys leave home someday." Bray smiled. It was a famous saying about pokemon journeys. He finished the proverb; "It said so on TV…"

Ducking his head, Bray strummed lightly on his guitar, before changing songs, lightly picking at individual strings. Even without realising it, he had unconsciously selected a song about memories.

The twanging of the strings grew louder as the song approached the chorus, and Bray began to sing lightly under his breathe.

"_And now, now we pass on by._

_Into the great old endless sky._

_How do we know when our sorrow will end,_

_We don't know until the day our memories die."_

Bray trailed off, but continued playing, the sad notes filling the air, and then a second voice joined in, singing where the teenager had left off.

"_The land rolls on, and the birds all cry,_

_On billowing winds, the angels fly,_

_How do we know when our sorrow will end,_

_We don't know until the day our memories die."_

Bray finished the song with a final chord, and looked towards the doorway, where the owner of the second voice stood. Lex looked impressed, her usually peppy attitude somewhat reined in by the song. Perhaps she recognized what was troubling him. Jett trotted over and climbed forlornly up her leg.

"You're full of surprises, B-Boy," Lex said, scratching the otter. "Your mum let me in."

"Hey, Lex," answered Bray. "All ready for when we leave?"

"Yep," said Lex. She'd taken out a room in the Pokemon Centre overnight, having already dumped her stuff off before finding Bray the day before.

Bray was pleased to have the girl join them on their journey. Lex had been a fun companion in Sandgem Town, a constant entertainer. Apparently, she'd appealed to Rowan to let her go, until the Professor had almost exploded, but had given her permission. So now she was coming on the journey as well, bringing the group up to four.

Bray examined her now. Her impish freckly face looked more joyful and friendly than ever, nad she was wearing a bright red t-shirt, with extremely short sleeves. Her slender arms poked from the armholes in the shirt. Around her waist was a rough leather belt with three pokeballs hanging from it, holding up a pair of tight black pants that reached to her ankles, with white trainers. Her silver stud sat in her right earlobe, and a necklace hung around her neck, with a pokeball symbol dangling from it.

"How about you?" she asked. "All set?"

"I guess. Just finding it a bit hard to let go."

Lex nodded sagely. "I know what you mean, I really do. But don't worry, you'll get used to it. Chase did. So, how's the Pokedex?"

After defeating the two members of Team Epsilon the day before, Lex had officially given Bray his Pokedex. His was red, and it now sat on his desk. Bray picked it up.

"It's great, I had a bit of a play last night. Nice stuff. Taz would love this; it's like a pokemon encyclopaedia."

"It _is _an encyclopaedia," corrected Lex. She looked at her wrist, where there was strapped a blue Poketch. "9:30. What time do we leave?"

"Eleven," said Bray, and was suddenly overcome by that feeling of homesickness again. Lex seemed to notice, rubbing him on the back.

"Don't worry about it. How're Toddles and Quiz coping?"

Toddles and Quiz were Ozzie and Taz. After meeting them the day before, Lex had quickly assigned them nicknames. Bray grinned. "Ozzie can't wait to leave. He's been wanting to travel since he was born. Taz is pretty excited as well, but she's nervous as hell."

Lex smiled. "She'll get used to it. And so will you. Come on, let's go for a walk around the city, you can show me around. You might not get another chance."

**000**

"Do me proud, Brayden," said Bray's mother. "And your father. Don't get into any fights where you're doing the fighting."

Bray laughed. "I won't, Mum."

At long last, the final farewell had arrived. A small assembly stood at the Eastern Gate of Jubilife City; the parents, the friends, and Nurse Joy had all come to see the new trainers off, and to wish them luck on their new lives.

Bray glanced over his mother's shoulder, to see Ozzie's massive family see him off. He had six brothers and sisters, and plenty of aunts, uncles, and cousins to go around. One by one, they lined up to say farewell.

A short distance away from Ozzie's family, Taz was being seen off by her mother and father. Taz's father, a short bespectacled man, was tiny compared to her mother, who was tall and commanding, yet extremely friendly and kind. You kind of had to be when you were a teacher at the local Pokemon School.

"Promise you'll call me? It'll be so lonely without you or the others. I'll miss you."

"Same here, Mum. I'll miss you too."

His mother smiled sadly, and pecked him on the forehead, before giving him a hug. Bray returned it tightly, relishing the final contact with his mother. With Raymond Rhen divorced and living elsewhere, the two had an extremely close relationship.

The two broke apart, and Mum busied herself by checking his luggage; a single hiking pack filled with food and other equipment like clothes and a sleeping bag. It was all that he would need. After all, at least some of the time they'd be sleeping in a Pokemon Centre. If they needed, they'd buy some small tents in one of the cities.

While his mother probed the pack on his back, someone stepped forwards to speak to Bray.

"I guess this is it for now."

"Yeah…" replied Bray. "We did good yesterday."

Turk made a small movement with his hand, then stopped himself, before doing it again, finally reaching out and offering his hand to Bray.

"Good luck, Brayfish," he said, smiling wistfully. Brayfish had been a name that Turk had used to call Bray.

Bray returned the smile, and shook the hand of his former rival. "Thanks, Turkey."

The two stared at each other, before bursting out laughing. Turk turned to leave, but suddenly Bray had an idea.

"Hey!"

Turk looked back, a questioning look on his face. Bray stepped forwards eagerly, earning a grumble from his mother as the pack on his back was jerked from her hands.

"You don't want to be stuck here your whole life any more than I do," said Bray, ignoring her curse. "You should go see Professor Rowan and get a Pokedex!"

Turk looked surprised, before breaking into a smile. "Maybe…do you think he'll give me one?"

"Tell him that I recommended you."

Turk nodded in thanks, an appreciative grin on his face. "Thanks, buddy. See you around."

"See ya, Turk."

The older boy walked away without looking back, and Bray watched as he turned the corner into the city, disappearing amongst the buildings. Suddenly, he was jerked back to the present by his mother's voice.

"Everything's there."

The two of them looked up as Ozzie and Taz's families all walked over, and the three looked at each other.

"Time to go," said Ozzie at length. "Let's get moving."

Bray and Taz nodded, and turned to their parents for final farewells.

"Love ya, Mum."

"I love you too, Brayden. Have fun."

"Bui…"

Mum smiled, and scratched the Buizel under the chin, and it licked her fingers sadly. "Look after him, Jett. I'm counting on you."

The three set off, walking next to each other down the long path leading onto Route 203. Three hundred metres down the trail, Bray knew, the road would turn from dark asphalt to light dirt. Waving back, the three left Jubilife City for good, the tall skyscrapers vanishing behind them.

For the first time, Bray payed attention to the nature. Maybe it had something to do with setting out on a journey. He swept his eyes back and forth, examining the green foliage and twisted trunks. It was amazing.

His companions also seemed to appreciate the world around them, Ozzie in particular. As a keen traveller and adventurer, he was having a ball already. The diminutive teenager was grinning from ear to ear as they walked, chatting animatedly. Bray and Taz exchanged looks, rolling their eyes at Ozzie's over-enthusiasm.

"Where's that Lex, anyway?" asked Taz all of a sudden. "Wasn't she coming too? She seemed fun, and I could do with another girl around."

"What's wrong with us?" retaliated Ozzie, sniffing his armpit. "What, do we smell?"

Taz shook her head hurriedly. "What? No, you don't."

Bray laughed, and as he did so he noticed a large tree a short way ahead of them. It had massive overhanging branches that spilled over above the path. "She told me that she'd meet up with us somewhere along Route 203. Dunno why…maybe she's out catching pokemon?"

"Actually," said a voice, sounding curiously like a certain assistant of Professor Rowan, "she came to wait for you three out here for a different reason."

The three trainers looked up into the large tree that Bray had noticed a few seconds earlier. Something shifted in the branches, and two massive clumps of leaves parted to reveal Lex's grinning freckled face. The girl was leaning out over the path, looking down at the trio on the ground below.

Bray shook his head in disbelief. "Hi there, Lex."

"What's up, Guitar Lord?" Lex looked at Ozzie and Taz. "Quiz, Toddles."

Ozzie cocked his head.

"You're weird," he said, grinning. "But in a good way."

Lex smiled cheerfully, closing her eyes as usual. "I know. May as well get the best out of life, so why not have fun doing it?"

Her eyes snapped open as there was a crack, and the branch she was leaning on dipped suddenly. A second later, it snapped entirely, and she fell head over heels out of the tree, emitting a loud scream as she fell the three metres to the ground, landing with a thud on her back. A pile of leaves landed on top of her, obscuring the girl's face from view.

Taz put her hands over her mouth. "Oh my god, are you OK?"

She started forwards – Bray and Ozzie simply watching with their eyebrows raised – when Lex sat up. The leaves blew off her face to reveal her laughing. Taz sighed in relief as the other girl stood, rubbing her back with one hand while scratching her neck with the other. Her attractive face was all the more appealing when she laughed, Bray noticed.

"Wow, I need to watch my surroundings more," Lex said, flustered. "Thanks for the concern, Quiz."

Taz smiled warmly. She liked Lex already.

"Why did you meet us out here anyway?" asked Bray.

"And what were you doing in that tree?" added Ozzie.

Lex waved a hand. "I can't stand farewells. So depressing and mopey. I didn't want to have to endure all the tearful goodbyes, so I high-tailed it out of there before it started."

Bray laughed. Lex was getting more and more strange with every word.

Now made up of four, the group continued on down the path. Eager to discuss her idol, Lex quickly questioned Lex about Professor Rowan.

"Chase said that he's a grumpy old fusspot," she said, "But I think he must have been mistaken or something. What's he really like?"

"I told you already," said Bray, before Lex could answer. "He's actually a pretty nice guy. Really patient. A bit serious though."

Lex laughed. "You can say that again. Old Greybeard's so serious he could feed a family with it."

Bray grinned as he walked, keeping a steady rhythm as he looked down at his feet. The dirt was passing by quickly under him; they were making good time.

"Doesn't sound like my type of guy," said Ozzie.

"He gets on well with the Wolf," said Lex inquisitively, as if it was completely far-fetched.

"Who's the Wolf?" whispered Ozzie into Bray's ear.

"Chase," he muttered back. Ozzie made a little sound of realisation, and then whispered the information onto Taz, who was looking likewise confused. Bray grinned.

"You wanna know what I think?" asked Lex, and without waiting for an answer continued. "I reckon that Rowey's whole serious get-up is too real to be real. Who can be that strict and boring all the time? I bet it's an act."

"That doesn't make sense," laughed Bray. "Why would he pretend to be serious? There's no point."

Lex frowned, put on the spot. "Who knows? I'll think of something…"

Her voice drifted off as she looked ahead of them. Curious, Bray and the others followed he gaze, and spied a large tree on the side of the road, completely devoid of leaves. Dry heavy branches lurked over the grass, reaching towards the air as if begging for sustainment. The knotted twisted trunk was bare and buckled.

"Where did all the leaves go?" asked Ozzie bluntly. Bray shook his head slowly.

"I don't know."

Taz shrugged as well, but Lex pounced forwards, scooping something off the ground hidden within the roots of the tree. It was a single leaf.

"Look," she said, and pointed towards the edges. Small chunks of the leaf were missing all over it, leaving small holes and gaps in the green velvety canvas. "Something's been eating it! Something ate every leaf of this tree."

Taz was intrigued. "Wow, that's so cool," she gushed, taking the leaf from Lex and examining it closely. "I wonder what pokemon did this…"

She put the leaf in a small pouch she had around her waist. "I'll keep this," she said. "It'll remind me to look for the pokemon who ate it."

They continued walking. Ozzie and Taz were both excited by the leafless tree, fascinated, and talked about it as they walked. Taz gestured towards her pouch.

"I'm going to put whatever interesting things I find in here," she said brightly. "Like a scrapbook of our adventures."

Ozzie held up a sketch pad he'd taken from his bag. "And I'll draw the stuff we see in here."

He flipped it open to reveal the leafless tree already sketched on the first page. Bray was bewildered.

"When'd you draw that?" he asked.

Ozzie laughed. "While you were all goggling over the tree, I drew it in."

"Nice one, Toddles."

Bray grinned. Why hadn't they done this before? The city life was boring and shallow compared to this; the sheer stunning wild. He'd never really appreciated nature until now that he was immersed in it.

And so he was taken by complete surprise as they looked ahead. The sight that made them took all their breaths away. For ahead, the forest on either side of the path was exactly the same as before, but with one major difference; _every_ tree was stripped bare.

Looming around them, hundreds of naked trees grew, every one completely lacking their leaves. The bare trunks looked like hundreds of people, all standing in formation together.

"Look at them all…" whispered Lex. "That's incredible…"

"What kind of pokemon _did _this?" gasped Taz, staring at the trees in a mixture of reverence and complete awe.

"Must have been hungry."

"Oh, har har, Oz…"

"Ssh!" said Lex suddenly, turning her head. "Do you hear that?"

The others listened, and then they all heard it. A suckling sound, that quickly turned into a sort of scratching, before suddenly going back to suckling.

Taz listened with interest. "Ooh, what is it?"

Bray and Ozzie both looked around, and both caught sight of the source at the same time.

"There it is," said Bray, pointing, drawing Lex and Taz like a Venomoth to the flame. Together, the group examined it.

On one of the trees with leaves remaining, there was suctioned a large red grub. It had a pale underbelly, with two large yellow stings on its read, and another on its head, above its two bulging yellow eyes. The caterpillar was slowly crawling up the tree, wriggling its body forward, creating the suckling sound. Whenever it reached a leaf, it would begin to eat, devouring its target in seconds, making the scratching sound. Then it would move on.

Taz freaked, leaping behind Lex, holding desperately onto the older girl's arms, keeping her fixed in place.

"Ew, it's gross!" she cried. "_That's_ what was eating the leaves?"

The direct opposite, Ozzie's face was one of excitement as he examined the caterpillar. Looking at the rest of the forest, the trees which still had leaves, he saw more. Soon, hundreds of the bugs were visible, all of them feasting upon the bunches of leaves attached to each branch.

"What are they?" the boy asked. Lex stepped up to one of them, Ozzie joining her. Her cover gone, Taz scuttled over to Bray and hid behind him instead.

"They're called Wurmple," said Lex. Frowning, Bray pulled out his Pokedex and pointed it at the bugs.

"**Wurmple, the Worm Pokemon," **said the Pokedex in an electronic voice. **"Wurmple has suction pads on its underside, allowing it to climb trees and other surfaces without trouble. Wurmple can shoot both silk and poison, and has a split evolution tree."**

"Split evolution tree?" questioned Bray. "What does that mean?"

Lex answered, still inspecting the Wurmple as it ate the leaves, Ozzie close by her side. "Depending on the Wurmple itself, it can evolve into two different pokemon, Silcoon or Cascoon." She seemed to think of something. "In fact, I'll bet that's why these Wurmple are eating the trees dry; it's time for them to evolve. They'll want plenty if sustenance."

"Wow," murmured Ozzie, and raising his hand, touched the Wurmple.

Its reaction was instant, twisting on the trunk to face him, a small strangled gasp coming from its mouth. A second later, a lump of sticky white silk shot from the Wumple's mouth, hitting Ozzie on the shoulder. He stumbled backwards, ripping the silk of his sleeve. Suddenly, Wurmple actually jumped off the tree, colliding into Ozzie and bouncing off.

It landed awkwardly, rolling over a few times, eventually suctioning itself to the ground and facing Ozzie angrily.

Taz freaked, backing away and pulling Bray with her. His cries of alarm were drowned out by Taz's shout.

"Gah, you made it angry, Ozzie!"

And then, as Wurmple wriggled angrily on the ground, its companions all stopped eating simultaneously. Bray and the others gasped, staring in surprise, as each and every Wurmple suddenly shone brightly in white light. One by one, they morphed, growing and mutating, white flames shining all around them. And one by one, the light faded, revealing hundreds and hundreds of cacoons in their places.

The cacoons varied; some where a silky white, with droopy red eyes, giving it the effect of sleepiness. Others were a dull purple colour, with fierce staring eyes. Spikes covered all of them, spearing into the trees and holding them in place where they hung.

All except one. The Wurmple that Ozzie had touched watched desperately as its companions changed. It whipped its small head back and forth, its friends evolving before its eyes.

"Oh no," said Lex sadly. "It missed the opportunity…"

"Huh?"

Lex explained. "Pokemon find it a lot easier to evolve when in sync with others. Because this one was distracted, it wasn't in the same mental state as the others and lost the moment."

Even Taz looked sorry for the Wurmple as it desperately squirmed over to a tree and climbed it, wriggling its lumpy body up the bark, stopped next to a white cacoon. The lazy eyes of the motionless cacoon stared back, but didn't do anything. Wurmple tried again, moving this time to a purple cacoon, but had no luck. Still a lowly Wurmple, it had been rejected by its family.

"What are all those pokemon?" asked Bray, as Wurmple tried another and another. He pointed his Pokedex at them.

The white pokemon went first, popping up on the screen. The voice of the Pokedex read its summary. **"Silcoon, the Cocoon pokemon. Silcoon is one of the two evolved forms of Wurmple, and has a hard shell to protect it from attacks."**

Next up was the purple pokemon. **"Cascoon. Also known as the cacoon pokemon, Cascoon is the other evolved form of Wurmple. Cascoon ignored all attacks made upon it, but will nevertheless hide itself using dead leaves."**

"Silcoon and Cascoon, eh?" Bray looked at the hundreds of cacoons. By now, Wurmple had visibly lost hope of initiating contact with its former companions, and was staring angrily at the trainers that had disturbed it. Bray had to admire its courage; a tiny bug standing up to four teenagers, all with pokemon to fight with.

Suddenly, it leapt at Ozzie, tackling him again. The attack did little damage, but Wurmple wasn't fazed. It opened its mouth and shot several strings of silk at Ozzie, who whinged loudly as he was hit, the sticky substance attaching itself to his clothes.

"Gross," he muttered, and pulled a walnut-sized pokeball from his belt, pushing the button on it. The ball enlarged, and Ozzie through it high into the air. It burst open, and Geodude formed from the white light that spilled forth. "Well, if you want a fight, you've got one!"

"Ozzie, no!" protested Taz, but Ozzie brushed her off.

"If I'm the one that did stop it from evolving, then I can at least give it some training so that it can."

Lex cottoned on immediately, grinning. "I've got ya, Toddles."

"Geodude! Tackle!"

Geodude slammed its body into Wurmple's who didn't react in time to dodge. The worm pokemon was blown backwards by the force of the move, smashing into a tree. It scuttled back to its feet, opening its mouth and sending gobs of silk at Geodude. While not making much impact on Ozzie, they definitely worked on Geodude, sticking to its body and the ground beneath, gluing the two together.

Geodude tried to bounce back towards Wurmple, but couldn't move. The silk was too strong and too sticky.

Ozzie cursed. "Damn! Geodude, you have to break free and hit it again!"

Wurmple sailed through the air and savagely opened its face wide, biting hard onto Geodude's arm.

"Huh?" said Bray. "It bit Geodude?"

Taz's eyes widened, her disgust at the bug pokemon pushed aside as the need to relay information arose. "It knows Bug Bite. Wow, if any Wurmple deserved to evolve, it's this one…"

"It sure is persistent, I'll give it that," remarked Lex admirably, as Geodude waved its arms through the air, trying to shake the worm off. It wouldn't willingly let go.

"Geodude, smash your arm against the ground to knock it free!" shouted Ozzie, finally deciding upon a strategy.

The rock pokemon obeyed, swinging the arm with Wurmple clinging to it violently against the path, crushing the Wurmple beneath its limb. The worm rolled off, bouncing a few metres away, too far away to reach with Geodude glued to the ground. But it didn't need to reach it…

"Now, Rock Throw!"

Geodude punched the ground, hitting the already weakened spot where Wurmple had been hit against. The earth shattered, breaking into several chunks of hard stone, one of which Geodude picked up, hurling the rock to where Wurmple still sat, dazed.

_Crack!_

The rock struck it directly on top of the head, creating a loud crunch and successfully giving Wurmple brain damage. Stretching into the air, the worm gave a small high-pitched screech, and suddenly glowed bright white.

Bray held his breath as the brilliant light that was Wurmple began to swell and change, the light fading to reveal a Cascoon in its place.

"It evolved!" cried Taz.

"Now's your chance, quick!"

Lex flicked an empty pokeball from her back pocket and flicked it over to Ozzie. To Bray's chagrin, his friend didn't see it coming, and it cracked him against the side of the head.

"Ah, what the-?" he shouted, looking angrily at the girl, who rolled her eyes.

"Use it quick, before it recovers and escapes."

Ozzie picked the dropped pokeball from the ground and tossed it at Cascoon, sucking the pokemon up in a flash of red light. The group watched in a tense silence as the ball rocked, shaking from side to side. The small button on the front was pulsing slightly, before it emitted a small tone, and the light faded.

The ball was still.

Ozzie's face lit up, and he swaggered over to the ball, a smug grin on his face. "Ha! I caught Cascoon!"

He tapped the sphere, and it burst open, spilling Cascoon onto the path next to him. It's perpetually fierce red eyes looked at him, then flicked past the boy to stare at its companions.

Taz looked sad. "Do you think…it wants to stay here with its family?"

Ozzie suddenly looked fearful. "No…" he said miserably, deflating. "But I just caught it."

Cascoon turned and began to bounce slowly towards the trees where its friends hung, all of them watching, some with droopy eyes, others with alert ones. But none of them moved. And Cascoon stopped on the side of the track.

It looked at the other Cascoon and Silcoon, then hopped around to look back at Ozzie, kneeling on the ground, shoulders slumped. Cascoon looked once more at its companions; those who had been ready to abandon and reject it when it had failed to evolve. And then back to stare at Ozzie, the stranger who had challenged it to a battle to help it get strong enough to advance to the next stage.

Cascoon made it decision, and hopped slowly back to Ozzie, who looked at it, confused.

"You're choosing me?" he asked stupidly, and Cascoon nodded, bouncing on the spot. The diminutive teen's eyes lit up, and he held out his arms. Cascoon jumped into them…

"YYYOUUUUCCCHHH! OOO-HHHEEE! YYOOOOWWW!"

Ozzie's face turned bright red as Cascoon's spikes dug into his skin, sticking there. He leapt to his feet, spazzing out, as Cascoon gleefully sailed around, attached to his hand. Ozzie put his tongue between his teeth as he tried to un-splinter Cascoon from his fingers.

Bray shook his head in amusement as Lex and Taz giggled. "How did he not see those spikes?"

**000**

Another chapter down in less than a week. I'm really beginning to honk through these things. Of course, NaNoWriMo starts on Tuesday, so it'll be a month before the next chapter. I need to spend the next few days planning my novel.

And before you say anything, yes, Lex called Chase "Chase" at the start. Not a mistake ;)

Well, I don't really have anything else to say right now, so I guess I'll see you all in December. Toodles!


	8. Rocky Roark: A Solid Battle

**Pokemon**

**Passion For Glory**

So…

I'm back.

As I explained in the most recent chapter of DBX (which I suppose not many of you read), I've already given up on my NaNoWriMo. The novel's still going, I'm going pretty good on that, but the whole "do it in a month" thing is down the john.

I love using john for toilet.

Anyways, since I'm not under a super strict time limit anymore, I'm free to go back to my usual fics, meaning that this is back to normal. 500 words a night, I promised, but I'll usually try to do more. Why, today alone (15/11/2011) I wrote about 2000 words of DBX without breaking a sweat. Being home while you're sick and with nothing else to do gets you in a writing mood.

Oh, btw, completely unrelated to anything, but has anyone else got Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim yet? Sickest game ever, I love it. When I was testing out my spells I accidently killed one of Hod's chickens and he attacked me, lol. I had to load the game 'cause I didn't want it to be permanent. Skyrim beats Oblivion easily, and Oblivion was one of the best games I ever played. I highly recommend Skyrim to absolutely everybody, unless you're a three month old baby, in which the case it might be a tad too advanced.

On with the chapter!

**000**

Bray winced as he emerged into the sunlight, leaving the shelter of Oreburgh Gate. It had been a lot darker inside.

"Whoo," he sighed. "Making good time, right? Where are we, anyway?"

Taz stumbled out of the cave, looking decidedly frizzled. She'd been freaked out by a group of Zubat flying past, but had gotten over it a lot easier than Lex, who had been frozen to the spot for at least five minutes.

"Well," said Taz, looking at a map in her guidebook. "We should be in Oreburgh City in about half an hour, I think. We'll move a lot faster now that we're in the sun."

Bray grimaced. "How's Lex doing, anyway?"

Taz shrugged, her perfectly cut hair brushing her shoulders as she raised them. "I don't know. Ask Ozzie."

From behind them came a set of grunts as Ozzie successfully managed to escort Lex out of the cave. She gave a loud sigh as she saw the sun.

"Oh, thank _God!_ I don't know if you guys noticed, but I was getting a bit nervous in there."

Ozzie's eyes twitched ominously. "A little nervous? I had to drag you out!"

Lex laughed, and ruffled Ozzie's hair. "Sorry, Toddles. I'm just a _little_ scared of the dark. And tight spaces. Caves are a nightmare."

He glared at her.

"Now," said Lex, taking the lead. "Let's put that hell's sanctuary behind us and keeping moving, right gang? Taz, any clue how long to Oreburgh?"

Taz unfolded the map she'd just finished putting in her bag, and showed Lex where they were. Their course decided, the group of four set off…well, five.

"Bui!"

**000**

"So, that's Oreburgh City?" Bray looked down the hill at the town, reminding himself of how he had looked at Sandgem. Only Oreburgh was the exact opposite. The landscape was rocky and mountainous, the city itself built onto the back of a mountain. About twenty kilometres away, Mt. Coronet rose, the forbidding mountain range looming over the city, cutting Sinnoh in half down the middle.

"Yep," answered Lex.

"But…It's so small…" said Ozzie. "You call _that _a city?"

Oreburgh City looked severely lacking when you're used to the towering skyscrapers of Jubilife City. Brown dirt lined the streets, and there were several heavy looking vehicles driving through the roads. To the South, there was a large group of people scattered around craters, and large skips full of rocks. All of them were wearing hard round hats. Bray guessed that it was Oreburgh Mine.

"There's no point comparing it to Jubilife City," said Taz. "Jubilife is the biggest city in Sinnoh. Everywhere else is going to look tiny."

Ozzie's face broke into a smile, and he pulled out his sketchbook. Already, as well as the bare tree, he had a picture of a funny shaped rock, a wild Zubat, and a rough sketch of a terrified Lex. "I can add a picture of Oreburgh City to my book!"

Bray groaned. "Now? It'll take forever."

Ozzie scowled. "Well, we're staying overnight, right? I'll come back out later and do it. Happy?"

"I suppose so."

Lex giggled, and began the walk down the city. "Come on, let's go already. Unless you Slowpokes want to stay here all day. Say, Hotshot, don't you want to battle the Gym here?"

Bray nodded fiercely. "Definitely. Come on, guys!"

He ran pell-mell down the hill towards the town, with Lex hot on his heels. Ozzie and Taz looked at each other.

"They're both nuts," said Ozzie, and Taz laughed, before they both ran after their friends.

As they arrived on the outskirts of the small city, they were cut off by a loud grumble as several large trucks drove past. Lex scowled at them.

"What's all this?" she whined. A small jeep pulled over beside them, the driver overhearing Lex's query. He wore green overalls and a rounded mining helmet.

"New in town, are you? There's a demolition going down at Oreburgh Mine later on this afternoon. You should come down, a lot of the townspeople are."

"A demolition?" repeated Bray, as behind them Ozzie and Taz caught up. "Why?"

The man shrugged. "Something about a load of fossils under the ground. The foreman's really excited." He revved the jeep's engine. "Actually, I'd better get going, or he'll get mad."

The miner drove off. Bray looked curiously after him.

"A demolition?" he said thoughtfully. "We should watch it later on. Anyone else up for it?"

"Definitely," said Ozzie, looking excited. "I love explosions."

Taz shrugged. "I think we should go to the Pokemon Centre first…I'm really tired, and you need to rest your pokemon, Ozzie."

"Alright then," said Lex. "It's settled; first the Pokemon Centre, then the mine."

"And then the Gym," added Bray. "I want a badge."

**000**

_GGRRRNNNZZZ!_

The sound was ear-piercingly loud, as several drills forced their way into the hard bedrock. Miners were everywhere, at least thirty of them, scattered over the range of the mine, ordering vehicles or carefully digging into stone walls. There were even one or two excavators here and there, but none of them were in use. And directly in the middle was a large flat space about the length of a football field. It'd been cleared completely of rocks and debris.

"That must be where they're detonating," said Taz, pointing at the cleared area. A man with dark red hair stood on the side of it, pointing and talking to some of the miners, who then hurried to the trucks that had passed earlier. After retrieving a small rectangular brick each, they hurried to certain points on the field and laid them down.

The man with red hair watched the whole process with an air of command, and Bray looked at him. Surprisingly, he looked remarkably young, about twenty-five, and like all the others, wore a hardhat, only his was red, like his hair. Clear round glasses hung over his eyes, and he had a grey coat on, with matching pants.

"I'll bet he's the foreman," said Lex, also noticing the man. "Looks like he's in charge, anyway. Nice hat."

A booming voice came from behind the small group, making them all jump.

"You got that right. He's called Roark, the head miner here in Oreburgh City."

The voice belonged to an older looking man. He was massive, with purple-brown spiky hair and a rough beard. The man wore similar pants to Roark, but over his torso was nothing but an old singlet. The man carried a massive silver spade over his shoulder, as if he was about to start digging right where he stood.

"Are you four here to watch the demolition?" he boomed, and Bray winced. The man's voice was very loud and rough, and reminded Bray of an Egyptian pharaoh from a TV show he used to watch. "It's going to be an epic uncovering. I love fossils!"

As he said the last sentence, he held his spade high in the air. Lex smiled. She seemed to like the man. Hell, thought Bray, Lex seemed to like everybody.

"Why are they doing this demolition, anyway?" she asked, and the man looked incredibly enthusiastic.

"Roark used some equipment to scan for fossils under the surface, and he found the mother lode! But the ground's too hard to dig, so we have to blow our way down. Haha! I love digging! But I love demolitions as well!"

Roark looked over as he heard the man's bellowing, and he raised an arm, getting their attention.

"Dad, calm down and get over here."

"Dad?" remarked Bray in surprise. "You're Roark's Dad?"

Roark's father boomed in laughter. "Yep. Gotta run!"

He strode over to Roark, still holding his spade over his shoulder, and the kids followed. Roark looked at them and smiled. He was a lot more quieter and calmer than his father.

"Come to watch? That's great." He turned to the man. "I'm Roark, the foreman of the mine. I guess you've met my dad, Byron."

The group nodded, and Roark pointed at the field marked for demolition. "This is gonna be awesome. So many fossils down there, all waiting to be found. I can't wait. We're going to have to make sure everybody's out of the way before we start though. The dynamite is all connected, so once we start, we can't stop."

"This is gonna be amazing," said Ozzie.

Roark looked at his watch, and checked the field. Everything was in place. "It's time to start. Want to do the honours, Dad?"

"Of course I do!" declared Byron, and held his spade into the air. "I love explosions!"

Roark shook his head. "I know, Dad."

Byron grabbed a small control box from the ground. A wire ran from it down to the first brick on the field. Bray looked at all the dynamite. The wire ran between them all.

"Here goes!" yelled Byron, and hit the button on the box in his hand.

BOOM!

The first brick exploded, sending a column of dust and shattered rock flying into the sky. As it detonated, the crowd watching, including all of the miners, let out a great cheer.

BOOM!

BOOM!

One by one, the bricks exploded, until there was a great crater in the ground. Finally, they were all gone. Roark ran to the edge of the crater - accompanied by Byron, Bray, Lex, Ozzie, and Taz – and looked inside.

"Damn," he said. "Not deep enough."

He gestured to the miners, pointing into the crater, and they ran to lay more explosives.

"We'll have to do a few more demolitions, I think," said Roark, and pushed his glasses up his face.

"That. Was. Awesome!" said Bray, looking at the crater with awe. Ozzie and Lex looked similarly excited, but Taz was more shaken, disturbed by the massive bangs.

A few minutes later, the charges were laid again. Roark turned to the teenagers. "These ones will go more slowly. Too fast and we might shake the mine too much and all the tunnels will collapse."

They drew back a bit, but were close enough that they could still see the bottom. The charges were laid at precision points.

"Next stop: demolition!" shouted Byron, and pressed the control box. "I love explosions!"

BOOM!

Once again, rocks and dust rocketed up into the sky, but that wasn't all…

Lex spotted it, shrieking and pointing upwards. "Look!" she yelled. "It's an egg!"

Bray looked quickly and saw it as well. About the size of his head, it arced through the air and landed on the ground, before slowly rolling backwards…back into the crater.

Where the explosives were.

Lex tugged desperately at Roark's sleeve. "Stop the demolition!"

"I can't!" he said. "The charges are on a connecter, I can't stop them now, it's impossible!"

Lex bit her lip, before dashing forwards. "Then I'll get it myself!"

"Lex, stop!" shouted Bray, but Lex didn't listen, sprinting to the crater and running down the slope to where the egg had rolled to a stop.

"Lex!" squealed Taz, covering her eyes.

Lex slid and tumbled down the crater, carefully avoiding the charges where they sat, waiting to go off. Suddenly, she slipped, stumbling over and rolling wildly down the slope until she landed with a crash at the bottom. The egg sat a metre away, dirt covering its smooth exterior. She grabbed it.

"Lex, get out of there!" yelled Bray, standing on the lip of the crater. Lex looked at him, and winked.

"I'm doin' fine!" she cried back.

BOOM!

To Bray's horror, the next charge dislodged a giant boulder from near the top of the crater. The boulder swayed on the edge of a small ledge, but then tipped, rolling down the hill directly for Lex. She didn't notice the deadly rock cannoning towards her, concentrating on finding a safe route back out of the crater.

"Lex!"

"Rampardos, go! Zen Headbutt, now!"

Bray gasped as a pokeball spun past his ear out over the crater, Roark's voice crying out the command. The spinning sphere burst open in a dazzling display of light, spilling its contents.

"What's that?" gasped Ozzie, as the pokemon within charged towards the boulder on a direct course. It looked like a dark grey and blue bipedal dinosaur, with spikes on its knees and around the back of its head. The pokemon's skull was completely blue, and looked as solid as bone.

The skull glowed, surrounded by a light blue shield, and it charged at the boulder, smashing into it a second before it hit Lex. The boulder shattered into fragments, blown apart by the force of the headbutt.

"What's that pokemon?" questioned Bray in complete awe, and pulled his Pokedex from his back pocket, scanning the dinosaur.

"**Rampardos, the Headbutt Pokemon. Rampardos' skull is as hard as iron, and can withstand almost any impact. Rampardos use their skulls to attack and devastate anything that gets in their way."**

Roark stepped up next to Bray and looked down into the crater. "Fantastic job, Rampardos."

Lex scrambled up the slope as fast as she could, the egg tucked safely under her arm, and finally emerged over the rim, immediately falling to the ground and puffing frantically.

When she opened her eyes, she found herself looking up at Bray, Roark and Ozzie.

"Are you _actually _insane?" asked Ozzie incredulously. Lex sat up, and flinched wildly as another charge went off.

BOOM!

She looked at the egg on the ground next to her and sighed in relief. "I got the egg," she said unnecessarily.

Roark's face changed from concern to amusement, and he tugged her to her feet. "Lex, wasn't it? That was pretty gutsy."

BOOM!

As Taz, Bray, and Ozzie crowded around Lex to make sure she was alright, a miner ran up to Roark and muttered to him. Roark nodded.

"I understand. We'll hold it off for tomorrow then."

The miner ran off, and Roark turned to the teenagers. "We're having some problems with the next batch of charges, so we have to delay the final demolition. Come with me and Dad, we can get the egg checked at the Pokemon Centre."

Bray nodded. "Sure. Let's go."

Roark seemed impressed as they left the mining area and entered the city itself. "I've never seen anyone put themselves in so much danger just for an egg before," he said, and Lex giggled, her freckled face flushing.

"I couldn't just let it get blown up, could I?"

Byron boomed in laughter. "I like you, little missy. You've got spunk. I love spunk!"

As Roark shook his head, Bray looked at the pokeball on the foreman's belt. "That Rampardos packed a wallop," he said in reverence. "I wish I was that strong."

Roark grinned, but Byron waved a hand.

"HA! My Bastiodon is much more of a fossil pokemon than Rampardos is."

"You two really like your fossils, don't you," smiled Taz, and Roark nodded.

"We've been collecting fossils for years. We used to have a competition going until Dad retired from his position as Gym Leader in Canalave City."

Lex snapped her fingers. "So _that's _where I've heard the name Byron. You were a Gym Leader?"

Bray's interest rose by about three hundred percent. "Gym Leader? You were a Gym Leader?"

Byron's smile grew larger. "Of course. I trained the mighty steel type. I love defence!"

Lex pointed slyly at Roark. "So that makes you…the Gym Leader of the Oreburgh City!"

Roark nodded. "That's me."

At this point, Bray stepped forwards and blocked everyone's path. He had a triumphant grin on his face, and pointed at Roark. "Then if you're the Gym Leader here…I challenge you to a battle! What do you say?"

Roark stopped walking, surprised. "A battle? Well, according to the rules of the Pokemon League I'm not allowed to say no. A battle it is. But…can we wait until after we have the egg checked? I really want to see what's inside it."

Bray nodded reluctantly. "I guess."

Byron rose his spade into the air.

"I love battles!"

**000**

"Do you think that Bray can win?" asked Taz tentatively as she sat down in the front row of the grandstand lining the wall. "After all, he hasn't had much experience."

Ozzie sat down next to her, his arms wrapped around the back of his head. As usual, his cap was on top. "I dunno," he said. "That Rampardos is a beast. It smashed that huge rock easily."

"Oh, don't worry about that, Toddles," broke in Lex. She was holding a clear glass case, with the egg resting inside. She'd refused to find out what pokemon was inside, preferring to wait for it to hatch. "That Rampardos would be about Rank 6. Bray's Rank 1."

"Huh?" said Ozzie. "What the hell is Rank 1?"

Taz looked exasperated. "Oh, Ozzie, we learnt about this in Pokemon School. Because of the different levels that trainers are at, they're assigned a rank depending on how many badges they have. That way, the Gym Leaders can use pokemon at their rank, making sure that it's always a challenge."

"Oh, I remember now," said Ozzie. "So if I had three badges…"

"Then the Gym Leader would use Rank 4 pokemon. If you beat them, then you raise to Rank 4," finished Lex.

The gym was massive, with reddish pink walls and a shiny blue floor. In the centre was the battlefield, a rectangle with a small box at each end for the trainer to stand in. The battlefield itself was made of hard stone, with rocks set at various points across it, to simulate a mountainous setting.

Surprisingly, the gym itself was built right into the small mountain the city was built against, cutting into the rock. Over the doors were inscribed the words: "_A wise person knows that there is something to learn from everyone."_

At one end of the battlefield stood Bray, with Jett the Buizel perched on his shoulder. Across from him, Roark was speaking.

"Since this is your first Gym battle, and because it's getting pretty late in the day, let's make this a one-on-one battle. That OK with you?"

Bray nodded. "Definitely."

"_By the looks of it, Roark's a Rock-type Gym Leader," _he thought. "_And since a lot of Rock types are also part-Ground, Shinx isn't going to be much use in this battle. Better stick with Jett."_

Byron stood on the referee's podium to the side, his spade in hand. "Here goes…let the battle begin!"

Roark selected his pokeball, sending out his choice. It looked like a small rhino, completely grey in colour. Rocky plates covered its body, and it had short stubby legs and a ridge down its back.

"A Rhyhorn," muttered Bray, pulling out his Pokedex.

"**Rhyhorn, the spikes pokemon. A Rhyhorn's Tackle can crush steel, and it is incredibly dangerous when it charges. The horn on its head has been known to impale a Cloyster's closed shell."**

"Be careful, Bray!" shouted Taz from the stands. "That thing will be really strong!"

Bray smirked as Rhyhorn scraped the ground with its foot, and took his sunglasses from his back pocket, sliding them onto his face. "You're on, Roark! Go, Jett! Show them your Water Gun attack!"

"BUUUIIII!"

The otter pokemon leapt from Bray's shoulder and landed deftly on the field. It had a clean line of sight between the rocks at Rhyhorn, and fully utilised this by unloading a torrent of water directly towards the rocky rhino.

"_Rhyhorn's super-weak to water!" _thought Bray triumphantly, but his confidence took a blow as Roark made his move.

"Rhyhorn, use Tackle to charge down the Water Gun!"

Rhyhorn grunted loudly and began to run, putting its armoured head down, horn ominously bobbing up and down as it charged. The Water Gun smashed into the Rhyhorn and was blown right back, having no effect.

"What?" gasped Bray.

"It smashed straight through the water!" shouted Lex, in equal surprise.

Rhyhorn kept charging, Jett's water blast bouncing harmlessly off its head, until the rhino collided with its opponent, knocking it off its feet.

"Bui!"

Jett landed painfully on its stomach, as Rhyhorn looped around, charging around the boundary of the field before skidding to a stop in front of Roark again.

"Excellent display there, son!" shouted Byron, waving his spade.

Bray was shocked by the effectiveness of Roark's pokemon. "Jett, can you keep fighting?"

"Bui," said Jett stubbornly, and climbed back up, panting slightly. "Bui!"

"Did you see that?" said Lex. "Roark used an attacking move to defend from that Water Gun!"

"Now, Rhyhorn, use Rock Blast, let's _go!"_ ordered Roark, and Rhyhorn opened its massive mouth wide open. Five glowing white rocks fired from its throat, zooming through the air towards Jett.

"Knock them away with your tails!" said Bray, and Jett spun so that its back was facing Rhyhorn. It's twin tails spun around like helicopter blades, knocking away all but one of the rocks, which smashed through and hit it on the back.

"Bui!"

"Now, Rhyhorn, finish it off with your Dig attack!"

Rhyhorn scrabbled powerfully at the ground, rapidly digging a hole under the Gym. Bray gasped.

"I can't see Rhyhorn!" he cried, as Jett looked at the ground below it, wildly sweeping it gaze around. "How do I know where it will come up from?"

Taz clutched at Ozzie's shoulder. "Bray's in trouble!"

"Rhyhorn, now!" commanded Roark.

With a massive crash, Rhyhorn emerged from underground, forcing its way through the floor and tackling Jett.

"Bui!"

The Buizel landed painfully in front of Bray, its eyes closed, as Rhyhorn collided with the ground, landing safely on all four of its stubby feet.

Byron raised his spade in Roark's direction. "Buizel is unable to battle. Roark wins the fight!"

Bray gently shook Jett, who opened its eyes and smiled weakly at him. "You OK, little buddy?"

"Bui," said Jett, nodding. It slowly climbed up Bray's arm, taking its place on his shoulder.

As the teenager stood up, he heard running footsteps, and his friends joined him.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Bray," said Taz. "You did well."

Bray grinned, despite his loss. "Thanks Taz. Phew, these Gym Leaders might be tougher than I thought…"

Roark stepped forward and extended his hand. Bray shook it. "Great battle, Bray. I guess I was just that little bit stronger."

Bray laughed, and scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, you got that straight. I'm going to have to train a lot more to beat you one day."

"Are you four staying in town?"

Lex shook her head. "We're leaving tomorrow morning, going North to Eterna City."

Roark frowned. "North? Over Cycling Road?"

"Yep."

Roark shook his head. "Sorry guys, that way's closed for a whole month."

"What?" cried Ozzie. "A month!"

Byron looked guilty, and began to sidle away, but Roark pointed at him. "Dad was playing around the pylons under the bridge digging for fossils and accidently collapsed the entire thing. The whole route is closed off while they fix it."

"I said I was sorry…"

"The only way to get to Eterna City is to go the long way, through Floaroma Town and then Eterna Forest," finished Roark, but Ozzie looked excited.

"Doesn't bother me," he said. "There's so much more country to explore that way."

Roark smiled, and turned to Bray. "Now, why don't you get to the Pokemon Centre and get Nurse Joy to take a look at your Buizel. I bet its worn out after that battle."

"Bui…"

Bray nodded. "Sure thing, Roark."

As they made to leave the gym, Bray turned back, grinning at Roark.

"I'll be back, Roark. And when I do, I'm going to win!"

Roark gave a casual salute, touching his fingers to his forehead and then flicking them off. "I'll be waiting."

The teenagers left the gym, and Bray looked at the message over the doors. "_A wise man knows that there is something to learn from everyone."_

"Well, guys," he said. "I lost that battle, but we'll be back, right?"

Lex clapped him on the back, holding the egg case in the other. "You can count on that, B-Boy."

"Bui!"

**000**

Well, Bray lost. Oh well, you can't win 'em all.

Phew, a chapter in a day. I'm beginning to churn them all out, eh? DBX yesterday and this today. I wrote this in a day, be proud of me ;)

Anyways, I hope you liked the way I portrayed Roark and Byron. I kind of exaggerated Byron's "I love X" thing, but oh well. He's going senile, that's my excuse. I watched the episodes that both characters were in (mainly the Byron ones), so I had a general idea of what they were like. And during the battle, pretty much just listen to the Sinnoh Gym Battle Theme (anime version). It makes it like ten times better, lol.

See ya's next time!


	9. Into the Batcave

**Pokemon**

**Passion For Glory**

Hiya everybody! How've we all been? I'm doing pretty good. Sorry about the wait, I've been really lazy for the last two weeks. But don't worry; I'm back, and not only that, the Christmas holidays have started, so I'll be home a hell of a lot.

Anyways, so last time Bray and the others arrived in Oreburgh City, where a demolition was taking place at the Mine. After risking her life with absolutely no publicity or media whatsoever, Lex rescued an egg. Later, Bray lost in his first ever gym battle, promising to return later to battle Roark again.

Now, our heroes have to go the long way round to get to Eterna City. Let's jump straight in, shall we?

Oh, and in other news, it was my B-day last week on Monday the 21st. *Waves small flag* Here's to sixteen years.

On with the chapter!

**000**

"Hey, look," said Ozzie, and pointed down the path. "Who's that?"

The four were back on Route 203, travelling towards Jubilife to eventually head North to Floaroma Town. With Route 206 and Cycling Road off limits due to construction, they were being forced to go around, through Floaroma Town and Eterna Forest.

After leaving Oreburgh City that morning, the young trainers had passed back through Oreburgh Gate and onto the road they now travelled, once again walking through the field of leafless trees that the Wurmple had created. Reaching the regular trees once again, they now spied another person on the path.

"How should we know?" asked Bray, and Ozzie shook his head, cap sitting firm on top.

"You know what I mean…"

"It looks like he's spotted us," said Lex, as the boy walked closer. He looked about their age, with fuzzy black hair and blue eyes. The boy wore a red backpack, and two shrunken pokeballs hung from the right shoulder strap.

"Hey!" shouted the boy when he was about twenty metres away. "Are you guys pokemon trainers?"

Bray spoke first, beating Ozzie to the punch. "You bet. What about you?"

The boy placed his fist on his heart, a proud smile on his face. "Yeah, I'm a trainer. The name's Tyler."

"I'm Bray."

"Ozzie."

"Some call me…Lex."

"Oh…I'm Taz."

Tyler nodded in turn to each of them as they introduced themselves. "You just came from Oreburgh City, didn't you? That's where I'm heading next, to take on the Gym Leader there."

Bray looked slightly taken aback, but then broke into a wide smile, and received one in return. "You mean Roark? He's really good, even at Rank 1."

Tyler frowned. "Really good, hey?" He smirked. "Well, in that case…how about showing me what it takes to beat him? By the sounds of it, we could both do a bit of extra training."

"A battle?" Bray's face lit up. "You betcha!"

Tyler took one of the pokeballs from his shoulder strap, pressing the button on it seam, causing the tiny sphere to enlarge. "Then let's fight, right here and right now…"

The two used the path as a halfway line between them, each standing by the edge of the forest on either side of the road. Bray was pumped; after his loss the day before, he needed a victory to boost his confidence up to 100%. Right now it was only about 99. Bray took his sunglasses from his back pocket and slid them onto his face.

"It's on, let's battle!" he said, and threw a pokeball into the air. Jett stood at his feet, waiting for its turn. "You're up, Shinx!"

The electrical lion cub was released in a flash of white light, and growled playfully at Tyler.

"Show him who's boss, Bray!" shouted Ozzie in encouragement, punching the air. The spectators of the battle stood about ten metres away, gathered together to watch Bray and Tyler battle it out.

"Yeah, you go, B-Boy!"

"Quite the fan-club you got there," smirked Tyler, and threw his pokeball to the ground between them. Shinx looked away as the searing white light hit its eyes, missing the formation of the pokemon inside.

"Huh?" Bray pulled out his Pokedex. "A Machop, eh? Not bad."

"**Machop, the Superpower Pokemon. Machop's body is made of pure muscle, which will never get sore no matter how hard it trains. It can lift boulders with ease."**

Machop was almost two feet tall, a bluey-grey colour with three ridges on top of its head. A small tail sprouted from its lower back. Machop's fists were clenched; it punched the air a few times to warm up.

"Maaa chop, chop!"

Bray looked confidently at Shinx. "We'll go first. Shinx, charge up your electricity!"

"_Shiiiinx!"_

Shinx's fur-covered body sparked a few times before a steady current crackled around it. Machop hopped up and down on foot to foot, waiting for it to strike.

"Thundershock attack!"

A thin bolt shot from Shinx's body and surged towards Machop, who was struck by the attack without even trying to dodge. The fighting pokemon cringed in pain, but shook the electricity off without difficulty.

"What?"

Tyler smirked. "Machop, use Karate Chop while its recharging!"

Without any sign of the attack which it had just been hit with, Machop barrelled towards Shinx, its toeless feet pounding against the ground. Shinx was panting after the Thundershock, and tried to move too late. The side of Machop's open hand slammed against its side, and Shinx whined loudly as it was knocked backwards, rolling in the dust.

"Shinx, are you OK?" called Bray, concerned. Shinx was still quite young and inexperienced. But his worry was needless, as Shinx climbed determinedly back to its feet, a frown on its face.

"That Machop shook off Thundershock like it was nothing…" said Lex thoughtfully. "It'll be a tough nut to crack alright."

Bray frowned as well as he sized up his opponent. Machop was back to shuffling from foot to foot, punching the air lightly in preparation, as opposite it Shinx bared its teeth, sparks crackling around its body.

"Alright, Shinx! Charge up again, and then Tackle it!"

Blue sparks fired up all around Shinx again as Shinx's natural electricity surged to the surface, causing its hair to stand up on end in anticipation. Machop braced itself as Shinx dashed towards it, but it wasn't enough.

Shinx slammed into Machop, headbutting the fighting type's stomach before unloading its electron-charged payload into its opponent's body. This time Machop definitely felt the power of Shinx's element, crying in surprise and pain as it was blown right off its feet. At the last second, however, as it fell backwards, Machop brought its foot around and kicked Shinx high into the air.

Both pokemon landed with loud thumps, dust getting kicked up as they slid away from each other. Tyler and Bray both took a step forward, checking on their pokemon, only for the creatures themselves to stand up and shake themselves off.

Bray grinned across at Tyler. "You're Machop's pretty tough."

"Right back at you. That Shinx is something else. But this isn't over yet. Machop, show 'em your Focus Energy technique."

Bray was confused as Machop bunched its muscles, growing slightly bigger as every part of its body increased slightly in size. It looked strained, grimacing as it made itself larger.

"Focus Energy? What's that?" asked Ozzie, as confused as Bray, and Taz answered.

"It's a technique used a lot by fighting pokemon," she said. "Focus Energy can make a pokemon more likely to hit a vital part of its opponent's body, making it more likely to land critical hits."

Tyler whipped his hand up and pointed at Shinx, who was breathing heavily in front of Bray. "Good job, Machop. Next, use your Karate Chop attack again, full power!"

Machop started a run up, arm held back as it stormed forwards towards the vulnerable Shinx. A bead of sweat ran down the side of Bray's face, but at the last second he called a command.

"Shinx, duck to the side!"

And Shinx did, leaning to its right and dodging the Karate Chop by mere centimetres. Tyler's reaction was instant.

"Again, Machop!"

"Dodge it!"

"Once more!"

"Jump over it!"

Machop lunged again and again, each time narrowly missing. But Shinx was tiring, Bray saw. And he knew that Tyler and Machop could both see it as well. The Karate Chops were getting closer and closer each time.

Finally, Machop landed a glancing blow off the side of Shinx, making the lion cub wince and trip, rolling a full rotation and landing clumsily on its stomach. The little electric pokemon painfully glanced up to see Machop standing over it, hand held back ready for a final Karate Chop.

"Thundershock, Shinx!"

"_Shiiiinx!"_

A small weak bolt of electricity shot from Shinx's crackling body and surrounded Machop, stopping its attack and sending it into a paralysed state as it struggled to fight the Thundershock. Bray saw his opportunity.

"Now, charge up and use Tackle!"

Shinx, still lying on the ground, found its feet and leapt up, crashing into Machop and at the same time, shocking it with every electron it had in its body. Both pokemon crashed to the ground, dazed and powerless.

"_Both _of them can't fight any more!" exclaimed Ozzie. "It's a tie!"

Bray gently picked up Shinx and scratched it on the head. "Great job, little guy," he said. "Have a good long rest, alright?"

He held up Shinx's pokeball and returned the injured cub, before looking down at Jett, the loyal otter standing by his feet.

"You ready, bud?" he asked, and Jett nodded enthusiastically. "Then you're up!"

Across the other side of the path, Tyler returned the exhausted Machop to its pokeball, attaching it to the shoulder strap of his backpack and grabbing the other one that hung there, enlarging it to full size.

"You're not that bad, Bray," he called. "But my next pokemon is pretty strong. Let's see how you handle it…"

Bray stretched a hand, his thumb pointing straight up. "Bring it on, Tyler. Me and Jett can handle _anything _you send out."

Tyler looked at the pokeball in his hand, a confident smile on his face, and threw it straight up in the air. "Come on out, Zubat, I choose you!"

Ten metres above them, the pokeball opened and a streak of white light shot from it, twisting through the air before fading to reveal its contents already in flight.

Bray paled, eyes widening in fear. He could feel the familiar terror sneaking upon him, but he knew that nothing he did would be able to avert it. The teenager involuntarily took a step back.

"It's a Zubat," said Lex, as the small blue bat swooped around in the sky. Suddenly, she noticed Bray's reaction. "Huh? What's up with our B-Boy?"

"Oh no," said Taz quietly. "Zubat's a Flying Type. Bray's terrified of them…"

This fact dawned upon Lex even as Taz explained it, and she looked anxiously at Bray.

"You can do it, Hotshot!" she shouted very suddenly, causing both Ozzie and Taz to jump. Bray barely even reacted, staring rigidly at the swooping Zubat. Jett tugged at his trouser leg, as Bray began to sweat heavily. The small orange otter looked sad and worried for its trainer.

"Hey, are you OK, mate?" asked Tyler, ignoring the battle and walking over to Bray. "What's wrong, don't you want to battle?"

Bray finally broke his gaze from Zubat and looked at Tyler, who was surprised at the intensity of the uncertainness in the other trainer.

"I forfeit," said Bray shakily. "You win."

**000**

Fallen leaves crunched under Bray's shoes as he trudged through the trees. They were travelling down a narrow trail winding through the forest, heading steadily Northwest. Tyler had showed them the path, explaining that it ended up right near Ravaged Path about twenty kilometres north of Jubilife City, cutting about a day of uneventful walking from their journey. After thanking the boy profusely for his help, the trainers had set down the trail. By Taz's calculations, they would arrive in Floaroma Town by nightfall, rather than sometime the next day as they had originally estimated. The shortcut helped greatly.

Bray scowled at his feet, hands buried in his pockets, as he took step after step, growing closer to their destination. Twenty metres behind, the others walked as a group.

Lex looked worriedly at Bray, who had been unnaturally quiet since his battle with Tyler earlier on; he had barely said a word, just marching on ahead without waiting for the others to catch up. Also, Lex noticed suddenly, Jett wasn't riding along with Bray like normal – the Buizel was in its pokeball. Lex frowned.

"What's up with him?" she asked quietly. "He didn't seem to mind losing against Chase or Roark. Why's he so bummed out it now?"

Taz shook her head, and whispered back. "It's not that…Bray doesn't mind being beaten that much. It's…the Zubat thing…"

"Oh," said Lex. "But…why's he still so cut up? The Zubat's gone, Tyler left ages ago. Nothing out here but us."

Ozzie joined in the conversation, kicking roughly at a fallen branch on the side of the winding path. "It's 'cause he's embarrassed by it."

"Embarrassed?"

Taz nodded. "Bray's always hated being scared of flying pokemon, he's ashamed. But he can't help himself; they just scare him to the core."

Lex felt bad for her friend. "And now he's had to forfeit a match because of it; no wonder he's so down in the dumps." Her face suddenly brightened. "Well, no point letting him wallow away, let's go cheer him up!"

And before the other two could react, the freckled girl sped up, jogging down the path at double speed to reach Bray. Taz started to follow, but Ozzie grabbed her wrist and shook his head.

"Let Lex do her thing," he said, in a rare moment of wisdom and sincerity. "See how it goes before we interfere."

Taz was surprised; gestures like this were uncommon coming from Ozzie, but she recognised what he was saying, and held back. The two watched as Lex reached Bray, falling into step beside him.

Lex subconsciously matched Bray's pace, her head twisted to look at him even as she walked, relying on Bray's movement to guide her way. The mopey trainer nodded listlessly at her.

"Hi," the boy said shortly.

Lex smiled kindly, her eyes closing gently. "Quiz and Toddles told me about your phobia," she said quietly. Like both Ozzie and Bray, she wasn't acting like her normal perky self. Bray appreciated it; Lex was energetic at best and annoying at worst, her constant cheer getting on everybody's nerves. This gentle and understanding Lex was quite a change.

Bray shrugged. "I don't like to talk about it," he muttered, but Lex was persistent.

"You know," she said brightly. "There's nothing to be ashamed of by being scared of something, no matter what it is. So you're scared of birds. So what? No one's going to judge you for it."

Bray shook his head, sighing deeply. "It's not just that, Lex. It's not the fear that I hate. What I hate is not being able to _stop_ it. No matter what I do, I've never been able to face a flying pokemon without freezing up. N-Nothing…"

Lex was silent, thinking about what to say next. Bray was acting so different.

"You know," she said slowly. "These things have weird effects on your mind. But sometimes the best way to get rid of a fear is to face it. And not just once; throw yourself at whatever you're scared of, again and again, and it'll go away."

"I've tried that before. It didn't work."

Lex smiled quirkily. "Well, maybe you're doing it wrong," she said, and Bray looked at her, eyebrow raised. She laughed. "From what I know, half the time you need the right circumstances. You'll see one day."

Bray smiled wryly, a sad flash of the former spark reappearing in his eye. Lex placed her closed fist on his jaw, gently pushing his head as if she was punching him. "Come on, Guitar-Lord. Show me some of that spirit. We've got a long road ahead of us."

Bray nodded, and his smile grew. "Thanks Lex."

"No problem, Hotshot. None at all."

**000**

Lex looked into the dark maw of the cave, mouth wide open in a disbelieving grimace. Beside her, Ozzie, Bray, and Taz started forward, and Lex spoke up.

"Hold on," she said quickly. "Are we sure this is the only way through."

The group had arrived at Ravaged Path, meeting face to face with a sheer cliff. After leaving the trail in the forest, they'd found themselves at the foot of the rockface. It loomed above them, about thirty metres high.

The only way through was a pitch-black tunnel boring into the rock, gradually ascending higher and higher to the top of the cliff. Ravaged Path. Lex swallowed.

"Yep," said Ozzie, looking back at the mouth of the cave. The darkness seemed to loom out, but the diminutive trainer with his bright blue eyes and signature cap faced it with no fear. Ozzie loved caves. "Unless you want to climb the cliff."

Lex looked up the rockface, and then back at the tunnel. "Is that an option?"

Bray laughed. He'd regained a lot of his former zeal, the grim memory of the battle slowly dying down. "Sorry Lex, we have to go through Ravaged Path, you'd be insane to actually climb up." The boy tilted his head. "And you know, the best way to master your fears is to face them…"

Lex scowled as Bray threw her own advice back in her face. She hated the dark; it was almost suffocating, surrounding you and cutting you off from the rest of the world. Ignoring the taunts from those who knew her, Lex had slept with a nightlight since she'd been a small child.

"Fine," she muttered sourly. "I'll go, but let's get through it quickly, OK?"

Bray smirked. "You hear that Taz? No dawdling!"

"Me?" Taz replied indignantly.

Ozzie laughed, and Lex found herself smiling as well. Like she had done to Bray earlier on, he was doing his best to cheer her up now. Nevertheless, she gulped as they finally entered the cave. All four of them carried torches, the yellow beams sweeping back and forth across the floor and walls.

From the outside, one would assume that Ravaged Path was just a tunnel that twisted randomly upwards until it reached the top of the cliff, but they would be surprised when they entered. The cave was unexpectedly spacious, and some time previously, stairs had been carved into the tunnel, separating the path into several sections. Ravaged Path twisted and turned this way and that, but the stairs always led upwards, leading the way to the other side.

And of course, wild pokemon littered the tunnel. Bray recognised some, such as Geodude and to his chagrin, the occasional Zubat. Others he didn't recognise.

"**Spinarak, the String Spit pokemon," **said his Pokedex as it scanned a large green spider pokemon. Taz cowered away behind small boulder, shaking slightly. **"Spinarak can remain motionless for days as it awaits prey to fall into its webs, which Spinarak can use to sense vibrations."**

"See, Lex," said Bray, as they continued steadily up the groups of stairs. "The dark isn't all that bad. If you have a light and friends with you, there's nothing to be worried about."

Lex nodded, but still looked spooked as she warily cast her gaze back and forth. Every few metres she'd flinch ever so slightly, and constantly looked behind her. It occurred to Bray as he examined her that Lex's free spirit and cocky attitude were both repressed by the darkness; even physically. Out of the sun and in the darkness, her eyes lacked their usual spark, her shoulders slumped, and her entire body seemed to shrink. Even her hair looked different, matted and flat upon her head, the blonde tips drooping.

Finally, to the girl's relief, they turned a corner in the tunnel and a ray of sunlight cast itself along the walls. The exit was near. Lex quickened her pace, speeding up the last few staircases to the small arch leading back into the sun.

"We made it," she said, edging around a section of the wall that jutted onto the path. The others followed, but Ozzie stopped as he passed the intrusion, looking behind it.

"Hey!" he shouted to the others, grabbing their attention. As they glanced back, he pointed at the wall behind the protruding rock; there was another tunnel, this one more roughly cut than the main path. It had no stairs, but descended back down at an angle, sloping back down the cliff.

"Woah," said Bray in awe as he and Ozzie excitedly gazed down the tunnel. Their torches didn't reach that far, the beams giving way to the darkness after about twenty metres. "How cool is this?"

Taz was curious as well, but Lex was slowly backing towards the exit, eager to be off. The girl bit her lip.

"Come on, fellas, let's get out of here. That tunnel is giving me the creeps."

"Relax," said Ozzie rather insensitively. "Stop being such a scaredy-cat." Taz gave him a disapproving look, and the boy looked guilty. "That came wrong. I meant that it wouldn't hurt to do a bit of exploring."

Bray looked enthusiastic as well, and even Taz was piqued by the side-path, but they both felt for Lex, especially Bray, who had experienced his own fears earlier on in the day. "It's OK, Lex. We'll come back another time and explore."

Lex shook her head fiercely. "Now way, Hotshot. I'm the tag-along here. We're close to the outside; I can wait outside while you guys explore. Just don't take _too _long, alright?"

Bray laughed. "We won't. Ten minutes, tops."

Lex darted outside into the sun, and relaxed as she felt the warmth hit her bare arms. She sighed in relief, shivering as the feeling of entrapment faded away. She enjoyed the momentary intensity of the freedom; it reminded her of being back at home, riding the waves on Sandgem Beach.

Lex opened her eyes and looked at her surroundings. Much like the other end, the tunnel emerged onto a wide path lined with trees. Soft grass surrounded the road, and Lex dropped onto it, frowning as she stared with revulsion back into Ravaged Path.

"I really don't know if they're brave or just crazy," she muttered, and grinned.

**000**

Bray wrinkled his nose in disgust as he crouched even lower. The tunnel was growing more and more cramped, but there was enough room to keep on going and from the light of the torches, he could see that it didn't end just yet.

"Do you smell that?" he asked the others. In front of him, Ozzie gave a great sniff, and to his back, Taz performed a small one.

"I think so," she said, her quiet timid voice growing even more quiet and timid. The girl's normally perfectly straight hair had been ruffled a little after she'd scraped her head on the roof, and she looked nervous. "It smells…like water?"

Ozzie nodded. "But not nice water. It smells like water that's had something dumped in it."

Suddenly, the tunnel began to widen, and they emerged from the cramped tube into a sizable cavern. The roof stood ten metres above their heads, and before them was an enormous lake. The darkness prevented them from seeing more than thirty feet out, but the lake was obviously a lot larger than that. Stalactites hung from the rocky ceiling, and there were few stalagmites a short distance away.

The trio was standing on a small rocky shore, the tunnel to their backs. The smell was greater here; it hung in the air, and as Bray looked at the lake he saw that it was murky and stagnant.

Naturally, he and Ozzie both found it awesome.

"Sweet place!" cried Bray, his voice echoing around the chamber. "Lex doesn't know what she's missing."

"I know, right?" replied Ozzie, as he dashed to the water's edge and peered in, and then pulling out his notepad and beginning to do a quick sketch. Taz looked wary, and she moved to the back of the shore, as far from the water as she could.

"This place is creepy," she said. "I know exactly what Lex is missing."

Bray began to laugh when he heard a sound. It was quiet, but there was no mistaking it. The echoing nature of the cavern made it all too audible.

There was something in here.

Something with wings.

Bray felt his legs going rigid, but forced himself to stand, moving away from where he crouched next to Ozzie, but only managed to go a few steps when the sound reached his ears again. It was much louder this time…and closer.

_Swicsh! Swicsh,swicsh!"_

It seemed to cut at the still air, slashing at it. Bray felt ill, the colour draining from his face. As his body stiffened, the opposite happened to his fingers, the muscles weakening and failing. With a small crack, his torch fell from his grip and bounced on the earth they stood on. It flicked off at the impact, one of their only light sources disappearing.

Ozzie looked rather nervous as well, and he backed past Bray, rapidly shooting his own torch around the cave. The beam bounced off the walls, but revealed nothing. Whatever was making the sound was silent and efficient. Or maybe it was just biding its time, thought Bray. Waiting and watching as they cringed in fear, before swooping down and eliminating them when they thought the threat was gone.

"Let's leave," said Taz, her voice quivering. "We have to leave right now."

"Bray, come on," said Ozzie, tugging at his friend's arm, but Bray didn't budge. He was still staring in total fear out at the lake, unable to will his body to move. Ozzie tugged harder, and finally Bray looked around, looking at Ozzie in confusion.

"Move!" shouted Ozzie, and punched Bray in the arm, before slapping him a few times across the face to snap him out of his fear-induced paralysis. Bray furrowed his eyebrows for a few seconds, before his pupils cleared a little.

"Y-Yes," he muttered. "Leave. Let's go!"

The three of them moved for the tunnel, the path to safety, when suddenly the cavern exploded in sound, the slashing and swiping multiplying a hundredfold in response to their bid for freedom. When they were mere metres from the entrance to the tunnel, a billowing cloud of dark shapes swooped down and cut them off.

Taz screamed, a piercing shriek that would have normally deafened Bray and Ozzie if not for the already thunderous flapping. Ozzie whipped his torch around, pointing it desperately at the cloud that now hovered in front of the tunnel, and almost dropped it when he saw them.

Zubat. About a hundred of them, all shrieking and spitting madly at the intruders to their lair. Bray's face went completely devoid of all colour, and he looked like he was in very real danger of passing out. And, Ozzie realised, he probably was.

They backed away, the two younger trainers pulling Bray with them, and they looked desperately around them. There was no other way out of the cavern that they knew of, and it would be suicide to try and find another tunnel across the lake. They didn't even know how big it was, and who knew what was in the water? Besides, the Zubat would tear them apart before they could get fifty metres out.

"Taz!" shouted Ozzie. "What do you know about Zubat? Anything that could help?"

Taz shook her head wildly. "Only that they feed on their prey's blood!"

"Oh, that's really reassuring!"

Ozzie grabbed his only pokeball and tossed it between them and the Zubat, who were beginning to separate from one another, swooping into the air. One of them came streaking down and tore straight at Taz. She screamed again and ducked.

The bright light from Ozzie's pokeball seemed to harm the Zubat; they cringed and moved as one, rippling in the air before recovering from the light. Ozzie grimaced as Geodude flexed its muscles, and a second later Taz's Psyduck joined it.

"Psy!" it said dopily, holding its head and staring at a point two metres away.

"Geodude, Rock Throw!"

Geodude smashed the ground and hurled the chunks of rock at the Zubat, but only a few were hit, the others dodging out of the way. A second later, two of them dive-bombed the Geodude, savagely biting at its body. Their teeth didn't do much damage against the rock pokemon's tough body, but Geodude winced all the same.

And always, the bats screeched.

Bray looked in terror as his friends attempted to fight. Psyduck waddled over and slapped at the Zubat surrounding Geodude, but it didn't hold them off for long. The Zubat would win through sheer numbers, Bray knew.

"There's no way…" he whispered, and Taz looked at him in fear.

"What are you saying?"

A pack of five Zubat zoomed at Psyduck, and the girl turned back to the fight. "Psyduck, watch out!"

Their wings clipped the duck again and again as they whipped past, the rapidly moving pokemon striking at Psyduck. It quacked in pain and fell over backwards. Taz helped it to its feet, and her eyes hardened.

"Psyduck," she commanded suddenly, and Bray's terror was interrupted for a moment by a hint of admiration. "Confusion attack!"

"PSY!"

Psyduck's hands, held on its head, glowed bright blue, as did its eyes, and suddenly a group of at least ten Zubat screeched even louder than before and began flying haphazardly through the air. Some collapsed into the water, others flying into walls.

"Go, Taz!" cried Ozzie, punching the air. "Keep it up!"

Psyduck targeted another group, but before it could attack again, it was struck. Taz and Ozzie gasped, and Bray felt his insides turn to jelly.

This was no Zubat.

It was so much larger. This pokemon had dominating eyes, with large powerful wings. Its body was long and tall, over a metre in height, with a gaping mouth and four terrible fangs, two on the top and two below.

"It's a Golbat…" whimpered Taz, cringing wildly.

"There's no way…" whispered Bray again. He took a step back, his back touching the cave wall.

Golbat slashed at Psyduck with its wing as it flew by, and Psyduck gasped dopily, falling over again. It grabbed at its head, its chronic pain worsening, but no more attack came.

"Rock Throw, Geodude!"

As Taz scooped her Psyduck into her arms, Ozzie took over the battle, Geodude throwing rock after rock. To their dismay, Golbat was even faster than the Zubat, effortlessly dodging back and forth between the rocks. And then, in a single attack, it swooped down and swiped at Geodude with its wing. Despite the rock pokemon's defence, it cringed in pain and grunted loudly.

"Geodude!" cried Ozzie, running forwards and putting his hand on his pokemon. Fear clouded his face as Golbat flew around the cavern, screeching all the while. There was no way out of this.

And then, as Ozzie sat on his knees, his hand upon Geodude, Golbat dived at him, mouth open wide. Its fangs seemed to double in size as it grew closer.

"Ozzie!" screamed Taz, but there was nothing she could do. Psyduck was too injured, and Golbat too powerful.

And then, out of nowhere, a bright flash of light flared from behind them, and a stream of water shot forth and hit Golbat in the face. It spluttered and choked, pulling out of its dive to regain its composure. Taz gasped at the attack, and spun around.

Bray was standing confidently, pokeball in hand. The fiercest look Taz had ever seen him wear was upon his face, and by his feet stood Jett, tiny fists raised.

"You won't touch _my _friends," said Bray dangerously to Golbat, who glared at him and screeched. "Not while I'm here. There _is _a way, and that way is me!"

**000**

Dun, dun, duuuuuuuuun!

I'm glad I finished. Just couldn't get into the groove, you know? But now I am. Huzzah! Funny thing, actually, this was actually meant to be one chapter, but it was getting longer and there's still quite a bit to go, so I decided to split it.

Anyway, what will happen in the next chapter of Passion for Glory! Will Bray really overcome his fear of flying pokemon to fight Golbat and save his friends? Or will his phobia return at a critical moment and doom them all?...and what's Lex doing while all this is going on? Find out next chapter, on Pokemon: Passion for Glory!

Toodles!


	10. Fear Factor

**Pokemon**

**Passion For Glory**

Hello, children. Back for another chapter? Oh, now I feel all warm and fuzzy inside ;) Well, we'd better get started, am I right?

Picking up where we left our heroes last time, Bray, Ozzie, and Taz are in quite a bit of trouble at the moment. After venturing down a side tunnel in Ravaged Path – leaving Lex outside – a swarm of Zubat attacked. With Bray frozen in fear, Ozzie and Taz were eventually defeated by Golbat. But suddenly, as Golbat swooped to attack Ozzie, Bray broke out of his stupor to send out Jett and block the attack.

So now…

On with the chapter!

**000**

Lex sniffed as she breathed in the heavy-scented air. It smelled strongly of fragrance, a powerful aroma that Lex found appalling. It was making her tipsy-headed. Wrinkling her nose, Lex looked at the black Poketch around her wrist. Ten minutes tops, Bray had said. It was already twelve.

"What's taking them so long?" she muttered. "How long can you take exploring a smelly old tunnel anyway?"

The sun winked down from above, and Lex turned her face to it, joyful smile stretched across her mouth. She loved the sun; it was much the cause of her many freckles and light tan. Lex frowned again, looking into the cave mouth. The dark was the exact opposite; it made you pale-skinned and wrinkled.

"It's not so bad when I'm out here," she said to herself, climbing to her feet and marching back and forth across the entrance, contemplating the darkness. She folded her arms, and scowled at the cave.

"You're not so tough," she said roughly, and then cringed as a blue shape burst from within.

"I didn't mean it!" she squealed, squatting down and cowering. "You're tough, you're tough!"

A few seconds later, after realising that she wasn't under attack, she slowly straightened up, shaking slightly. Near the entrance to Ravaged Path, hovering a few metres inside, was a Zubat. It shrieked loudly as she drew closer, wheeling around and swooping back into the depths. Lex craned her neck, following the wild Zubat, and an eyebrow shot up as it disappeared into the tunnel that Lex's friends had vanished down.

"Huh?" she muttered. "Does it live down there? But…the Guitar-Lord is down there! And Quiz, and Toddles!"

She paced back and forth some more, stroking a figurative beard as she thought about what to do. If there was one Zubat, there would be more, she knew that. And some Zubat, especially the ones that lived in caves, could be very territorial.

"Not to mention vampiric," she added to herself. Zubat weren't known for being friendly to strangers. More for attacking them en masse and sucking them dry. Lex knew that she'd be able to take on the Zubat easily. Hotshot, Quiz, and Toddles she wasn't so sure about.

But just as she made her mind up to go help them, she glanced at the sun, and then at the dark of the cave, and suddenly she felt doubt. Sure, she's be able to take on the Zubat. But could she take on the dark?

A second later, she was back to pacing. Lex bit her lip as she strode back and forth, eating herself up inside. On one hand, she knew that her friends could be in a bit of trouble with the Zubat, but at the same time, she was afraid of going. Not because of the wild pokemon; her team members were strong enough to handle _them_. But the darkness itself? She felt fear. Not just of the cave and whatever could be inside, but of what that fear could do to her.

"Come on, you big baby!" she hissed. "Get over it and get in there! B-Boy could be feeling exactly the same as you now, so what are you waiting for?"

Emboldened by that thought, she straightened up, and for extra push, slapped herself. Bunching her shoulders and tensing her legs, Lex prepared to venture into the cave.

And then, from within the tunnel, came a scream, barely loud enough to hear.

"Quiz!" gasped Lex, and without any further hesitation bolted into Ravaged Path, dashing across the rock and ducking into the side tunnel, hurrying down the narrow path. The tunnel twisted and turned through the side of the cliff, gradually descended further and further into the ground. As Lex ran, she felt the familiar horrible feeling of the darkness closing in around her, pressing from all sides, but she shook it off.

"You're not so tough," she repeated, and this time nothing sprung out at her. Lex grinned. "Take that, darkness!"

Another scream pierced into her ears, and she quickened her pace. The shriek seemed a lot closer than before, but there was still quite a way to go, she estimated.

"Hold in there, guys!"

**000**

Bray didn't know what was coming over him. A furious righteous anger filled his entire body from head to toe, anger split between the Golbat that now hovered angrily only metres away from him, mouth open wide, and at himself for allowing his friends to have to fight to protect him. The fear was still there; he was almost collapsing from the sheer magnitude of raw emotion attacking his mind. But its paralytic effects were gone; he could move and react normally again.

And now, with this momentary respite from the terrible petrification that the fear induced, he was going to do everything he could to get them out of there.

Jett was hunched over savagely, growling fiercely at the hulking bat. The enemy screeched violently, and began to swoop.

"Jett!" shouted Bray, pointing at the incoming Golbat. "Let's show 'em! Use your Quick Attack!"

"Bui _bui!"_

Jett dropped to all fours and in a blue of motion, ran across the floor, zigzagging back and forth, making it even harder to keep track of. Golbat pulled out of its dive, focussing on simply keeping up with Jett's movements. Suddenly, the Buizel kicked off from the ground and leapt into the air, tackling Golbat two metres off the ground.

Golbat veered wildly, screeching, but easily recovered, flapping its wings roughly to regain its flight. Jett landed on all fours, and growled at the bat again. Lining the walls of the cavern, the hundreds of other Zubat hovered, wings swishing in the musky air.

_Swicsh, swicsh, swicsh!_

"Now, Jett; Water Gun!"

The powerful stream of water rocketed from Jett's mouth, but Golbat moved much too fast, zipping to one side and dodging the attack. It swooped again, streaking past Jett and narrowly missing the otter with the tip of its wing. Jett winced at the rush of air cutting past its face.

"Watch out, Jett!" cried Ozzie, interrupting the fight. "It's wicked fast!"

Bray grimaced, and pointed at Golbat, who had veered out over the lake. "Water Gun, while its back is turned!"

But Jett only whimpered, dropping to three feet, propping the front of its body up while keeping an eye on Golbat. It panted heavily, and closed one eye in pain.

"Bray!" shouted Taz, pointing at Jett. "It doesn't have to hit Jett to hurt him. That was an Air Cutter attack!"

Bray was taken aback. "Wha-!"

"_Bui!"_

Jett was blown off its feet, somersaulting painfully before slamming to the ground as Golbat swooped back overhead, powerful wings beating. Jett snarled in pain and struggled to rise from its belly.

Bray could feel his anger draining and the fear swelling. Even with his and Jett's strength, Golbat was still much more powerful, and it didn't even have to go close to Jett at all to attack. Jett's speed counted for nothing; due to its cutting wind effect, Air Cutter was extremely difficult to dodge in such a confined battling space.

Hold on…

"That's it!" cried Bray, as he looked around the cavern. "Golbat may be able to use the entire battlefield above ground, but Jett can do even better. Jett, dive under the water!"

As Golbat lurked around in the air above the rocky plateau, Jett quickly crawled to the water's edge and slid in, swimming below the surface and disappearing entirely from view. The murky black water completely concealed Jett from view. Golbat hovered over the surface, looking momentarily confused. Bray managed a weak grin.

"Can't attack Jett if you can't see him…" he muttered, and Ozzie cheered.

Golbat wasn't fazed.

After shaking off the momentary confusion at Jett's whereabouts, Golbat screeched longer and louder than it had any time before, and began slicing wildly at the air with its wings. Bray took a step back in shock as the powerful wings tore at the normally still water, chopping it and slicing it up. The howling wind cut gouges in the lake at least three metres deep, and it was only seconds before a small orange shape was blown out of the depths, spinning painfully across the cavern.

"Jett!" shouted Bray.

Golbat didn't waste any time, torpedoing across the lake and snatching up Jett in its feet. Bray watched in horror as Golbat wheeled around, coming in as if to land on the rocky ground on which they now stood. Golbat dropped to a few inches above the ground, grinding Jett along the rough stony floor. Finally it let go, and Jett rolled like an abandoned doll across the ground, stopping at Bray's feet.

Jett was covered in scratches and bruises, dirt matted into its short orange fur. It looked like a wreck, beaten up and exhausted. Bray dropped to his knees, gently picking it up.

"Sorry, little guy," he whispered, but Jett didn't answer; it was unconscious. "We weren't strong enough, huh…"

He raised his head to look at Golbat, who screech loudly, the sound echoing across the cave. The rest of the Zubat joined in, the cacophony of sound echoing off the chamber walls and piercing into the eardrums of the three doomed trainers.

"This is it," whined Ozzie. "We're done for."

"I'm sorry, Bray," said Taz sadly.

Bray was startled. Both of his friends seemed to be accepting defeat. And he didn't really blame them. With help almost inconceivable, and their pokemon defeated by Golbat, there wasn't any obvious hope in their situation. Geodude and Psyduck were both unable to fight, and Shinx would be almost useless; it was still worn out from its battle with Tyler earlier on.

And just as the sinking feeling of his phobia began to set in again, Bray heard a new sound. The sound of running footsteps, and then the sound ceased, only to be replaced with a rough scraping sound accompanied by several wild squeals.

"_Huh?" _he thought, dimly turning to the entrance. At least thirty Zubat still hovered in front of it blocking the way, but as Bray suspected, that was all about to change…

**000**

A foul smell found its way to Lex's nose as she ran down the tunnel, and she wrinkled her nose. This whole day seemed to be an entire litter of strange smells. But this one was different than the one outside; it was musky and damp, the smell of tainted water and decay. It invaded her mind as she ran, playing on her imagination. Lex's mind conjured up images of unspeakable terrors lurking at the other end, but she cast them away. Whatever was down here, she knew she could handle.

She wasn't one of Professor Rowan's top assistants for nothing, after all. While she didn't have any badges, Lex was by no means Rank 1. And it was time to announce her new confidence before darkness to the world.

Finally, she rounded a corner and the tunnel widened considerably, giving her more headroom. Lex smiled grimly; she was really close. In fact, she could here sounds now; voices talking. They were frightened, almost whispered. Lex grimaced.

"_Must go faster…"_ she thought, and pushed herself a little more. And just as she did, her foot collided with a rock embedded solidly in the floor of the tunnel, sending Lex flying head over heels down the remainder of the tunnel. She squealed in pain as she rolled pell-mell down the rocky corridor, before bursting out the end into the main chamber.

Zubat scattered in fear as she exploded from the mouth of the tunnel, rolling to a stop on the floor of the cavern. This was happening to her a lot lately. Rolling over on the ground, she unzipped her backpack and glanced inside. The egg, sitting safely in its case, was undamaged. The girl sighed in relief. She kept on forgetting that she had it; she had to be more careful or the egg might end up being smashed.

Climbing to her feet, giggling despite the danger, Lex took in her surroundings and her smile instantly vanished. Hotshot was crouched a short distance away, a heavily injured Jett in his hands, and in the corner was Quiz and Toddles. And flapping above their heads, screeching loudly at the intrusion, was a large, very angry Golbat, fangs bared.

"Lex!" shouted Taz. "You're here!"

"Lex!" mirrored Ozzie, a hopeful grin spreading across his face.

"_We're saved!" _thought Bray in relief. "_But can Lex really beat this thing?"_

Lex proceeded to completely remove any doubt whatsoever from his mind.

Reaching for the frayed brown belt that was stretching around her waist, Lex removed all three pokeballs that were attached there. She looked different to usual; Bray realised it was her expression. It was one of cold satisfaction, as if Lex had full confidence in her abilities. Bray suddenly felt beneath her; she was beyond him in terms of skill, he now realised.

"I'm going to end this whole thing right now," Lex declared, her voice echoing powerfully around the cavern. "This fight ended thirty seconds ago. Bozo, Piplup, Swablu! Let's kick some batty arse!"

Three identical burst of searing light burned around the chamber as Lex released all three of her team members. They looked pitiful.

In the middle stood Bozo. Bray remembered it from his fight with Team Epsilon in Jubilife City. The Mime Jr. had effortlessly picked apart the two goons, blocking their attacks and fighting back without flinching, despite it being two against one.

Next came Piplup. A tiny penguin chick, it had a light blue down covering its body, with tiny wings and a yellow beak. There were two white spots on its chest, and a pattern of dark blue skin around its head made it look like it was wearing a hood. Bray also recognised Piplup; Lex had used it at Lake Verity to search for Mesprit alongside Jett.

The third pokemon Bray had never seen; in fact, until now he hadn't even realised that Lex had a third pokemon, although now that he thought about it, he could see that it had been folly to think that she only possessed two. Swablu was a small bird, with a blue body. It had tiny little feet and a ridiculous looking fluffy tail. Its wings looked like two clouds protruding from its body.

Even together, the three looked completely harmless, their tiny size robbing them of any intimidating features. But what they lacked in quantity, they sure as hell made up for in quality.

Screeching, Golbat began the attack, and this time the Zubat joined in, at least fifty of them swooping down at the girl and her pokemon. She didn't bat an eyelid, merely pointing at the incoming darts.

"Bozo, use Reflect!" she commanded, and the tiny Mime Jr. motioned with its hands, rubbing them up and down on the space in front of it. Instantly, the Zubat collided with an invisible wall, smashing into the solid air and wheeling away, screeching and injured.

"Now, Piplup! Whirlpool!"

"Pip_lup!"_

Bray watched in sheer amazement as the tiny penguin stepped up to fight the hundreds of enemies. Piplup pointed it beak directly into the air, and water formed at the tip of its beak, swirling and swirling, growing larger and larger until there was a fully formed, ten foot high whirlpool balanced on its face. Suddenly, Piplup _jumped, _carrying the whirlpool into the air before tossing it at the swarm of vampiric bats hovering over the lake. They were sucked in, spinning around and around in the water tornado.

"Swablu, you're up!" continued Lex. "Ice Beam attack!"

"What?" Bray was astounded. "Lex's Swablu knows Ice Beam?"

The tiny bird opened its thick beak and emitted a single chiming note, the cry echoing like a bell through the chamber. Suddenly, a wicked cold bolt of ice fired from within its mouth, shooting directly out and striking at the nearest Zubat. It screeched as it was hit, and fainted on the spot, tumbling into the lake, joining the other that had been defeated by Piplup's Whirlpool. Swablu fluttered around the cavern, sweeping its beam like a torch across the chamber, freezing and fainting at last thirty Zubat all on its own. Bray looked on in complete amazement.

Suddenly, he noticed that despite all of the Zubat being taken out, Golbat still remained. It hovered a short distance away, staring around in shock and hatred as its companions were systematically taken out by Lex's pokemon. Then, it let out a loud piercing cry and began its final attack.

Lex faced it with no fear. "Bozo…"

The Mime Jr. reacted immediately, dancing over to stand between the rapidly approaching Golbat and Lex herself. It twirled on one foot like a ballerina, a bright smile on its face. Bozo seemed to be enjoying the whole affair immensely.

"Watch out for Air Cutter!" warned Bray, but Lex just brushed him aside with a wave of her hand.

"Don't you worry about me, B-Boy," she said nonchalantly. "I can take care of myself."

And he didn't doubt her for a second.

"Bozo…Psybeam!"

"Mime!"

Bozo's almost annoyingly high voice issued from its grinning mouth, and its entire body was surrounded by a glowing blue aura. Golbat slowed slightly, wary of the danger that was evidently about to head its way, but even it wasn't fast enough to avoid what came next.

The bauble on the tip of Bozo's head glowed bright red, and a thin multi-coloured beam fired from the tip of its head, searing through the air and striking Golbat in mid-flight. The beam exploded when it hit it, the rainbow light expanding and surrounding it. Golbat let out one final screech and dropped like a stone, splitting the water with a mighty splash.

And just like that, Golbat was defeated.

Lex flicked a strand of hair from her eyes, tucking it behind the hairpin that held back her fringe. She and her pokemon were the only things in the whole cavern left standing. The girl stood up perfectly straight, a cocky grin on her face.

"Good job, guys," she said to her three pokemon, and returned them all to their balls. "I'm proud of you's. Have a nice break."

Bray was looking at the girl with a new light. She who had up until now been a rather quirky, clumsy, and generally clueless person had proved herself otherwise, in his eyes.

"_Wow…" _he thought. "_I knew that she was an alright trainer, but that was something else!"_

He stood up, Jett still held in his arms. The otter licked his hand and gingerly crawled up his arm to rest on his shoulder, leaving his hands free. Bray joined Lex near the water's edge, standing in a line with Ozzie and Taz as the three of them faced the fourth member of their group.

Lex turned to face them, and suddenly she looked rather tired, but gave a weary grin. "Well, here I am," she laughed, and the others joined in.

"Lex," breathed Taz. "That was amazing! You saved us, I don't believe it."

"Seriously," said Ozzie. "You're beyond good. I've never seen anything like it. There must have been about two hundred of them!"

Lex grinned weakly, scratching the back of her head. "Yeah, I guess. They weren't too organised."

Bray shook his head. "Organised or not, you kicked some vampire ass. Whatever happened to being scared of the dark?"

Lex looked surprised, and then shrugged. "I don't really know. I guess…I just told myself that there were worse things. Besides, you guys were in trouble, I couldn't just stand outside and ignore the screaming." She tilted her head, looking at him. "And what about you? Whatever happened to being scared of flying types?"

Bray grinned sheepishly. "Nothing happened, really. The right circumstances just came along, and I snapped."

Taz touched his arm. "So…you're not scared anymore? Is your phobia gone?"

Bray went to answer, but Lex got in first. She was gazing at him with a strange look of interest that wasn't normally there, and Bray got the feeling that she knew exactly what he was feeling. "Nope. He's still scared of them; just not the same fear as before, am I right?"

Bray nodded. "The freezing's gone. I still get freaked out by them, and I don't think I'll ever get used to them, but I don't think I'll ever really go paralysed again."

He shrugged. "But who knows. Chances are, nothing's really changed at all. Next time, I could easily freeze. We'll just have to wait and see, right?"

Lex grinned. "Right. Now, let's get the bloody hell out of here. I might now mind the dark _so _much anymore, but we're still in a really creepy cave underground and something in here stinks like a bitch."

Bray burst out laughing. "Don't ever change, Lex."

**000**

Everybody winced as they emerged into the sunlight, the bright rays burning their retinas. The only exception was Lex, who welcomed the warm air with enthusiasm. She dropped to her knees, arms splayed in the air as she took in the warmth and the freedom…and the powerful fragrant smell.

Ozzie dropped to the grass next to her, and Bray and Taz followed suit, the four trainers lying down on their backs as they relished the outdoor air. Even though they didn't know it, all four of them were reflecting back at the events in Ravaged Path. Already it seemed like a fading nightmare, thought Bray, a distant memory that didn't have to be repeated.

For a few minutes, the only sound was that of their breathing, but suddenly Lex rolled over and slipped her backpack off her shoulders and dropped it lightly on the ground. Unzipping it as quick as she could, she reached inside and pulled out her egg case. With a flourish, she whipped off the glass lid, exposing the egg to the open air.

The egg was shaking.

"Oh!" cried Taz, and crawled over as quickly as she could. "It's hatching!"

Ozzie and Bray also gathered around, and together the trainers watched as the egg rocked back and forth. Small whimpers were coming from within, and suddenly a large crack split the egg from top to bottom. Light engulfed it, the flare causing all of them to wince and avert their eyes. As it faded, Bray rubbed his eyes and looked back at the egg. Or rather, where the egg had been.

Nothing left of the shell remained. Sitting in its place was a small wriggling fox. Large brown ears sprouted from the sides of its head, and equally brown eyes blazed bravely on its face. Around the baby's neck was a cream coloured collar of bushy fur, and a paintbrush-like tail emerged from its rump.

"Oh, it's so _cute!" _cooed Taz, and she and Lex fell upon it, doting on the little fox pokemon and showering it with tickles and praise. At first, the pokemon looked a little alarmed, but with seconds warmed up to the attention, a bright look in its eye and a smile on its face.

"Nice," admired Ozzie, and leaned over to Bray, who was gazing with interest at the pokemon. "What _is _it, anyway? I've never seen anything like it."

Bray pulled his Pokedex from his pocket and flipped it open, before scanning the fox. **"Eevee," **stated the Pokedex in its electronic voice. **"The Evolution pokemon. Eevee can evolve into at least seven different pokemon, and possesses a unique genetic structure. They are loyal and playful, requiring much attention."**

"An Eevee?" inquired Taz. "I've heard of these."

"So have I," added Lex, and gave Eevee a hug. "Man, I'm the luckiest girl in the world. Hi there, little guy. I'm Alexis, but you can call me Lex, everybody does!"

"Does she realise," whispered Bray to Taz and Ozzie as Lex chattered on to Eevee, who listened with interest, "that Eevee can't talk?"

**000**

Congratulate me! I wrote this in a day again. That is, I started today and finished today. All 4000 words. A good day today, I think, but if I could do this more often it would be good ;)

So, Lex is packing a lot more power than she lets on. You probably had a good idea of her strength from when she took on Epsilon in Jubilife, but those thugs weren't exactly powerful.

And an Eevee hatched from the egg…I know it is the most cliché pokemon _ever,_ and I'm probably gonna get a lot of negative vibes from giving Lex one, but I reckon it suits her perfectly. They already seem to get along pretty well, after all.

Well, see you all soon!

Toodles!


	11. Mural in the Meadow

**Pokemon**

**Passion For Glory**

New chapter. Sorry about the two-week wait. Let's rock and roll.

Since I'm beginning to run out of things to say in these "opening credits", I'm just gonna head straight into the actual content. Wait…thinking, thinking….nope, nothing.

On with the chapter!

**000**

Bray jolted awake very suddenly, his eardrums ringing, and without realising where he was, rolled over quickly. The sudden movement tangled him in the bedsheets, and in his struggle rolled too far and collapsed over the side of the bed.

"What's going on?" he shouted, voice muffled by the sheet still smothering him. Across the other side of the room, Ozzie sat up wildly, looking around in chaos, eyes bleary.

"Urgh, that noise!" he grunted, stumbling out of bed and dragging his half-asleep body to the window. On the floor, Bray finally freed himself from the sheets and staggered upright, almost falling back over. Together, they pulled back the curtain covering the window.

Light from the early morning sun poured into the room, lighting every corner and piercing directly into the two boys' eyes. They covered their faces and screamed in agony, staggering backwards and colliding in the centre of the room, both meeting the floor in a crash of limbs and painful knocks.

"Get off me!" shouted Ozzie, his tiny body almost crushed by Bray's. He levered his arm out from under the other boy and drove his fingers in Bray's armpit. Bray flinched wildly and jerked away, leaving Ozzie to breathe again.

Bray launched back to his feet, glaring with a touch of madness towards the window and that awful, awful sound issuing from outside. By now his eyes had adjusted to the light, and he stalked to the window, taking very slow deliberate steps.

"Whatever's out there, I'm gonna _kill _it!" he seethed, grasping the window sill and jerking his head out. Ozzie joined him a few seconds later, the two boys staring with equal insanity out at Floaroma Town.

The sight that greeted them wasn't quite what they expected.

"What the hell?" snapped Ozzie. "A _parade?"_

"At five o-clock in the bloody morning?"

The group of four trainers hadn't arrived in Floaroma Town until nine the night before, and by the time they grabbed a bite to eat and checked out at the Pokemon Centre, it was almost eleven. Agreeing to have a nice healthy sleep-in the next morning, they hadn't anticipated this.

For striding in perfect time down the main street of Floaroma Street, complete with bass drums and dancing cheerleaders, was a marching band. Trumpets blared loudly, bass drums boomed, and at the very rear of the procession was a lone triangle player, tinkling away at his instrument and looking extremely lonely.

Ozzie sagged his shoulders, his arms hanging out the window. "What a nightmare…So tired and all they're doing is waking everybody up!"

Bray pointed at the pavements and sidewalks. They were brimming with what looked like every citizen of the town. "Looks like everybody else is already awake."

The townspeople cheered as the band passed them, throwing everything from confetti to pieces of grass at the players, cheering all the while. But the most common item hurled as gracefully as possible were flowers of every variety. The town was practically overflowing with them; they hung on every terrace and grew in every garden. A sweet fragrance seemed to continually hang in the air, no doubt created by the flowers.

After all, it wasn't called Floaroma for nothing.

The town was definitely living up to its reputation. All over Sinnoh, Floaroma was known as the Garden of Houses, a reference to its history of the town being built in the midst of the hundreds of flowers, as if the buildings were just another feature of the garden.

But right now, no amount of floral imagery was going to appeal to either Bray or Ozzie. The two watched the parade with heavy-lidded eyes, wishing with all their might that they could simply go back to sleep.

The townspeople seemed to think otherwise, cheering louder and louder at the passing band, who responded with tremendous fanfairs and spectacular overtures. Bray groaned.

"Someone shut them up…"

Ozzie looked with ragged eyes at the wall to their left. Next-door, the girls would likely be experiencing the same thing. "They'll be lucky if they don't bring out Taz's Rage Mode."

Bray laughed wearily, and shuffled to the door. "Then they'd be sorry…"

The words had no sooner left his mouth than the door burst open, almost tearing off its hinges as it swung all the way back and hit the wall. And standing behind it was a terrifying image.

Taz's normally straight and neatly combed hair was all over the shop, sticking every which-way and generally looking like something the Glameow puked up. Her eyes were bloodshot and rolling, and the girl's round glasses hung off her face, almost laughably askew. She was panting heavily, her murderous intent perfectly clear.

Bray flinched, taking a few steps backwards as he beheld the horrifying wreck. But inside, he breathed a sigh of relief. Morning Taz was nowhere near as scary as Rage Taz.

"Hi," he said, yawning widely. "I guess they woke you up too?"

"What_…"_ hissed Taz, eyes twitching venomously. Bray knew from experience that her normally timid and quiet manner flew out the window this early in the morning. Morning Taz was as grumpy as hell. "…is that…parade…_doing? _Don't the people of this town ever sleep?"

"Apparently not," grumbled Ozzie, sitting on his bed and tugging on some socks. His short spiky hair was extremely unspiky; tussled and messy, it sat matted on top of his head, the boy's hat sitting on the table at the bottom of the bed.

"So, what now, guys?" asked Bray.

"Well, we can't go back to sleep," replied Ozzie, as a particularly jubilant fanfair blared through the window. "May as well have some breakfast downstairs."

Taz fell with her back to the wall, sliding down the smooth surface until she sat on her rear, legs tucked up to her chest. She stared wistfully at the ceiling. "I'd kill for a hot chocolate right now," she fantasized.

Bray sighed in agreement, shooting some evil eyes at the window for waking them all up. Then it registered.

"Hang on; where's Lex?"

**000**

"Wooo!" shouted Lex, cheering wildly as a particularly elaborate and decorated parade float drifted by, thirty or so trumpet players crowded on top. "Nice going, guys!"

Ozzie groaned, running his hand down his cheek in exasperation. "There she is…"

Still yawning and droopy-eyed, Bray, Ozzie, and Taz picked a path through the throng on the pavement, moving slowly through the crowd towards the fourth member of their party. After a quick search of the girls room had yielded no results as to Lex's whereabouts, they'd concluded that she must have already left to explore the town.

With that problem solved, they'd resigned themselves to getting ready to join her. After taking about thirty seconds to quickly change clothes –leaving their hair thoroughly un-brushed and their beds thoughtfully unmade – Bray and Ozzie were ready to go. Taz took a further five minutes, quickly combing her hair neatly into its usual straight style and sifting through her pack for some clean clothes. With the transition from the scruffy grumpy Morning Taz, she cheered up considerably, morphing into Normal Taz.

And so, still stumbling and veering off-course, the three – accompanied by Jett, who had slept through the whole commotion - made their way downstairs and out of the Pokemon Centre, to be greeted by thunderous brass and booming drums as they stepped outside onto the street. The Centre was inconveniently located along the main street of Floaroma Town, and so they walked right into the middle of the unwelcome parade.

They spotted Lex almost immediately, her enthusiasm making her stand out. Unlike the three of them, weary and still recovering from their shortened sleep, Lex was wide awake and perfectly refreshed, her bright green sparkling under the morning sun. Perched on top of her head, clinging to her hair, was the newly hatched Eevee. Not even a full day old, the newborn nevertheless looked excited and curious about the proceedings, its puffy tail swaying back and forth. The fox's ears were pointing straight up, and its eyes were darting back and forth, trying to take everything in at once.

And what a lot to take in! The parade was massive, an endless torrent of showmen, declaring their worth to the cheering crowd. As Bray had noticed the night before, flowers hung on every building and balcony, and the town was littered with gardens, strategically placed so that no matter where you looked, at least one flower would be within your line of sight.

"Hey!" shouted Bray over the trumpets, trombones, and tubas, tapping Lex on the shoulder. She turned with difficulty – they were hemmed in on all sides – and grinned when she saw him, eyes closing as usual. Jett leaned over and licked her face, and she giggled, scratching the otter under the chin.

"Hi, B-Boy!" she yelled back. "What took you guys so long?"

"What took us so long?" cried Ozzie in protest, squeezing between a very fat woman and her slightly less tubby husband. They glared at him, but were swept away by the crowd before they could say anything. "It's five-thirty in the frickin' morning, you psycho! What are _you _doing up so early?"

Lex laughed, inaudible over the background noise. "You city-folk sleep way too much, Toddles. When you live at the beach, you have to get up early every day to catch the good waves!"

Taz looked around her, alarmed. Almost everyone else in the crowd towered over her. Even the children; most were riding on the shoulders of parents. "Can we please move!" she said quietly, but her naturally quite voice was imperceptible.

"What?" bellowed Ozzie in her ear, and she flinched.

"_Can we please move!"_

"Oh, alright!"

Lex led the way through the crushing crowd, unceremoniously shoving a pathway. The others followed hot on her heels in case they got cut off. Several minutes later, they turned off the main road and found themselves on a side-path. It was completely deserted, and the ground beneath them was not concrete or asphalt, but a fine sand. The small alley looked completely different from the screaming main street.

Neat little cottages lined the road, all with their signature gardens growing in front. Bray glanced at the garden they were standing directly in front of. A life-size scarecrow dressed in faded blue overalls and a straw hat bent over a bush, its back to them. In a town like this, littered with flowers and other beautiful plants that seemed untouched, Bray thought the scarecrow was a little out of place.

"Phew," said Ozzie. The noise had quite woken him up completely, and he picked the last few specks of sleep from the corners of his eyes. "I'm glad to be out of that. Now I can hear myself think."

Taz was similar in reaction, but Lex looked slightly disappointed. She reached above her head and gently took hold of Eevee, placing the tiny fox down on the ground. "There you go, little guy," she said. "You can't ride on me all day; you have to learn how to walk!"

Jett scampered down Bray's body and landed on all fours next to Eevee. With his twin tails gently waving around, the Buizel looped Eevee a few times, beginning a game of chase. Eevee joined in eagerly, the fox yipping happily as the two pokemon ran back and forth.

Lex looked back at the main street, where the loud music was still pouring from. "Cracking festival! It's so energetic."

Bray groaned. "It _would _be, if they held it a little later on. What are they celebrating, anyway?"

Lex opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. A confused expression slid across her features. "You know, Hotshot, I'm not quite sure…"

"Some tourists you are then," spoke a voice, and they all jumped, looking around wildly. The voice had come from nowhere; there wasn't a person to be found apart from themselves.

Suddenly, the scarecrow shifted in its spot and straightened up, holding its back as it cracked. Not a scarecrow, Bray now knew, but a person; the man had been kneeling over the bush, attending to it.

Having finished his work, the man dressed as a scarecrow turned around to face them. He looked to be in his forties, with a clean-shaven face and rich amber eyes. His nose was as squashed as it was big.

"If you don't know about the Floaroma Mural Festival, then you're the worst tourists I've ever seen," he told them. "It's Floaroma's most famous carnival."

Lex looked curiously at the scarecrow-man, an interested look in her eye. "I know about it," she told him. "I just didn't know it was today."

"I've heard of it too," said Taz, eyes bright. "Wow, I can't believe our timing; the Mural Festival's only held once every six years."

"Bah," spat the scarecrow. "Your timing is nothing lucky or fortunate. It would be no more significant than any other day." He looked at the four teenagers before him with his amber eyes; despite their full colour, they appeared drained. "My name's Dell, the official keeper of the Meadow."

After they announced their names to the scarecrow, Ozzie tilted his head. "Why don't you like the festival?"

Dell smiled wryly, and produced a rake from somewhere in the flowers beneath him, raking at the petal-covered grass from fallen flowers, but under the smile looked dejected. "This celebration is nothing like it used to be," he said quietly. "Over the years it's just lost meaning to the people of the town. My family and I are the only ones who still respect its original meaning these days. Everybody else is only in it for the parade, and the stalls and the music."

Dell went back to raking, as if he'd forgotten his audience. Even Jett and Eevee stopped playing as an awkward silence fell over the group.

"So what is the original meaning then?" asked Bray, disliking the growing tension.

Dell looked at him, a grim smile playing on his face. His thick eyebrows wiggled slightly under the brim of his straw hat and he chuckled. "I like you, kid. Right to the point, aren't you? Brett, right?"

"Bray."

"Bray! Sorry, kid." Dell stopped his rake and ran his knowing gaze over the group. Taz looked sympathetic, Lex curious, and Ozzie just confused. "Come with me. I'll show you."

He stowed the rake among the foliage in his garden and tromped to the sandy road between the cottages, joining them. Dell was taller than they'd first realised, and he had powerful muscular arms. He jerked his head down the path, in the opposite direction to the main road, and strode off. The others looked after him.

"Should we follow him?" asked Taz quietly, and Ozzie nodded.

"Sure, why not. Whatever he's going to show us sounds pretty cool," he declared, and ran after Dell, Bray close behind. After a moment's hesitation, Taz followed too, and Lex grinned, taking a final glance at the festivities on the main street, before shrugging and turning away. The girl quickly ducked and grabbed Eevee, dropping the fox on top of her head, before running after her friends.

**000**

"Where are we going, anyway?"

Dell looked sideways at the shrimpy little kid with the cap next to him. "You sure ask a lot of questions, don't you?"

Ozzie thought about for a second. "You think?"

"My point exactly."

On Dell's other side, Bray chuckled. Dell was very blunt and gruff, but had a roguish quality that made him somewhat likeable. Still, thought Bray, he wasn't exactly the kind of guy you'd invite to a fine dinner, that was for sure.

They'd walked over two miles since leaving Floaroma Town, trekking across several flowery fields on a light dirt path identical to the one between the cottages in the side-alley. It cut through the pastures, splitting each range into two halves, each packed to bursting. A few fields ahead, there was a line of trees about a mile wide, blocking their path.

Dell nodded towards the trees. "We're heading in there. Satisfied?"

Ozzie looked at the line of trunks. "Nope."

"Ooh," said Taz eagerly from behind them. "I've seen this before, in a textbook at Pokemon School. Isn't that the border around Floaroma Meadow?"

Dell turned a keen eye to her. "Sharp mind, girl. Good work."

"Border around Floaroma Meadow?" repeated Bray. "I'm confused."

Dell snorted. "You'll see, knucklehead."

They continued down the path, growing closer and closer to the border. Various pokemon frolicked in the flowers. Bray used his Pokedex to scan each new pokemon.

"**Ledyba, the Five Star pokemon. Ledyba grow frightened and timid when alone, and secrete an aroma to attract more of their kind. They use the scent to communicate once together."**

"**Sunkern, the Seed pokemon. Naturally unskilled at battling, Sunkern stay still to collect absorb nutrients in preparation for evolution. It is relatively defenceless against enemies."**

"**Combee, the Tiny Bee pokemon. Combee are adept at gathering honey, which they then give to their queen. Male Combee are incapable of evolution, and very few females evolve at all."**

"**Skiploom, the Cottonweed pokemon. Skiploom can fly short distances by using the wind to get airborne. The flower on its head opens and closes according to the temperature."**

Lex smiled peacefully as she looked around at the pokemon. "I like it here," she said brightly. "The sun makes everything warm and alive."

"That it does," said Dell, his straw hat bobbing up and down as he nodded. Bray had shield his eyes uncomfortably from the burning sphere that hung in the blue sky above. Dell smirked; his hat blocked the sun's bright rays from hitting his eyes. Similarly to the keeper, Lex didn't seem to mind the light, relishing in it. Bray shook his head; Lex never ceased to amaze him.

As they reached the tree-line, Bray saw that there was in fact a gap in them, the path heading directly through the middle of the line. A beautifully decorated iron arch curved over the entrance, decorated with various flowers and vines.

"Hey, I have a question," said Bray. "If this is the Mural Festival, then where's the mural? Shouldn't it be painted on a wall somewhere?"

Dell only smiled. "Not all murals are created with paint…" And with those cryptic words, he led the way under the arch and through the trees.

Bray and his friends followed, and as he beheld what lay on the other side, his eyes widened at the sheer beauty of it. A massive meadow lay before them, every single inch of it covered in thousands upon thousands of flowers. The meadow was about a mile wide, and about as long. The line of trees enclosed the whole thing, and as Dell had said he would, Bray now saw what Taz had meant by "border".

"Floaroma Meadow…" whispered Taz and Lex at the same time, and they looked at each other.

"Jinx," said Lex quickly, but the others all ignored her, their attention entirely captured by the meadow. Blue flowers lined most of the field, the rest a combination of yellow, green, and to Bray's confusion, a line of strange grey and brown flowers running down the middle, ending just before the blue flower lining.

While the teenagers gawked, Dell turned left and strolled around the meadow to the corner, where there was a small cottage, built against the vertex created by the trees. After a few moments, the others followed, stumbling along as they tried to keep their eyes on the meadow.

"Well, about time you got here!" A new voice reached their ears. Bray tore his eyes from the garden and looked at the small house in the corner of the meadow; it was made of a rich-looking wood, with a dark brown sheen. Standing on the front porch, leaning on the rail, was an older-looking man that looked to be in his late sixties. He was as skinny as a stick, and wore a toothy grin.

"Sorry, Harold," Dell called back, and Bray caught a fond smile on the scarecrow's face.

The man named Harold laughed. "I was beginning to think that you were watching the parade! Imagine that; Dell, joining in with the Mural Festival. And who are these young fellas? Oh, and ladies," he added, tipping his wide-brimmed straw hat to the girls. The hat was enormous, the brim at least double the size of Dell's.

As the newcomers introduced themselves, Dell did a quick visual sweep over the meadow, taking in the flowers. He frowned.

"That Heracross has been back again, hasn't it?" he asked, and Harold nodded frightfully.

"That is has, I'm afraid. It took everything I had to scare it off, but it won't be back again today while you're here, it won't."

Dell snorted. "I doubt it…that thing's a menace."

The scarecrow looked at the teenagers. "Me and Harold - my uncle - manage the fields for the town. Our family's been doing it for hundreds of years, passing down the responsibilities of the Meadow Keepers through the generations. Harold also keeps the Combee; he collects their honey every day."

Harold jerked his head North, towards the far end of the Meadow. "They keep their hives off thataway, on the other side of the mural."

Lex blinked. "On the side of the…what?"

She spun around to look intently at the flowers, and then gasped.

"No _way! _That's so awesome!"

"What, what is it?" asked Ozzie, staring dopily at the field.

"Look more broadly," said Lex, pointing at the field. "Don't you see?"

Taz suddenly gasped, putting her hand over her mouth in surprise, but everything you needed to know about her mindset was in her eyes. They were wide open, staring at the meadow in amazement.

"What are you fruitcakes going on about?" asked Bray, unable to see.

"The mural, Hotshot…" murmured Lex. "The meadow _is _the mural. It's Sinnoh!"

And as Bray looked at the flowers covering the field, his eyes sprung open and his jaw dropped as he saw that the girl was right.

The meadow was a map.

As he had noticed before, the flowers all over the meadow were different colours, some green, some brown, and many other colours. But as Bray looked, he saw that the colours made up a caricature of Sinnoh. The blue flowers running around the outside and in certain spots on the map itself must symbolise the ocean and the three lakes, he realised.

So then…that grey and brown line running down the centre of the meadow must be Mt. Coronet.

"Sinnoh…" he whispered. "How was this made?"

Harold laughed heartily. "These flowers were planted when the village was founded, to show the town's loyalty to our region and our pride for living in such a wonderful place. The Keepers of the Meadow have been maintaining them for generations, keeping them safe, replanting when flowers die, stuff like that."

Dell grimaced as he looked in the direction of the town. "This is the reason for the Mural Festival. It's held every six years because the number six represents beauty. But every year, a little more of the original meaning is lost. Harold and I are the only ones who even care about the meadow anymore."

"That's so sad," said Taz. "It's so beautiful here, it would be such a shame if people were to forget about it entirely."

Dell's eyes had faded as he stared off into the distance, and didn't say anything.

"So, where are we on this map, anyway?" asked Ozzie excitedly, breaking the atmosphere. Harold chuckled, and stood up straight, barely reaching to Bray's chin. He was older than he looked, and walked stooped over.

Harold led the way through the flowers, picking his path carefully so to not step on any of the plants. Small trails snaked their way through the meadow to allow people to walk among the flowers, and the group found themselves following the old Combee-keeper down one of them now. Dell brought up the rear.

A short distance away, a large knotted tree reached for the sky, with a powerful thick trunk and swaying branches. It's plentiful leaves were a rich golden colour. The tree looked almighty compared to the frail flowers surrounding it on all sides, and towered completely over them.

Harold pointed at the tree with a bony finger. "There. The first honey tree marks where the meadow is located. It is a great symbol of the town, and was the first thing planted in the garden."

"Wow, it must be centuries old, then," said Ozzie, and pulled his notebook from the backpack her wore, and began to sketch the tree inside.

"I wouldn't mind climbing that," said Lex, and Dell fixed her with a stern glare.

"Absolutely not," he said fiercely, and Lex rolled her eyes.

"I was only joking, Overalls."

Dell squinted at her suspiciously, but then twitched suddenly, and turned to the tree, incredulous. The others looked as well, wondering what was causing such a reaction.

"Heracross!" snarled Dell, and suddenly the ground just beneath the roots exploded upwards. Clumps of dirt – accompanied by a few flowers – flew in all directions as a large blue beetle clawed its way out of the earth.

A very, _very _large beetle.

It was at least four foot tall, and was equipped with an enormous flat horn protruding from its head. The beetle stood upright on its hind legs; it had a single pointed toe on each foot, and two sharp claws on its hands. Two bulbous yellow eyes stared hungrily at the honey tree, and the bug fell onto the trunk, sucking at the bark.

"That wretched beast!" hissed Dell. "What does it keep to keep this thing away, it just keeps coming back!"

Bray pulled his Pokedex out and scanned the creature now helping itself to the honey tree's sap.

"**Heracross, the Single Horn pokemon. Heracross' favourite food is the honey-like substance secreted by trees. It is usually gentle and docile, but has enough strength to throw a truck with its horn."**

"Heracross, huh?" said Bray. "Wow, they look awesome!"

Dell almost slapped him. "It's a menace, I tell you. That Heracross has been attacking the meadow for almost a year now. We can't get rid of it."

Bray watched as the beetle sucked its prey, and felt a strong urge to battle it. Something about the bug was just drawing him in.

"Heracross, listen up!" he yelled, and the bug's yellow eyes slid over to look at them.

"Hera, hera!" it grunted, and kept on sucking the sap.

Bray grabbed a pokeball from his belt, tearing it from the leather. "Hold still, Heracross. Let's battle!"

Dell took Bray by the upper arm, closing his grip around him. "Tread carefully, boy. I won't let harm come to the meadow."

Bray winked at him. "Don't worry, Dell. This will be quick and clean."

Behind Dell's back, Ozzie scratched his neck nervously, while Taz and Lex pretended not to hear the statement.

"Go, Shinx, let's show 'em."

Harold looked rejuvenated as Bray slipped on his sunglasses. "Let him go, Dell. He's got spirit alright. Show that pokemon why he shouldn't mess around, you got that, kid?"

Bray grinned, and pointed at the bug, who was still sucking at the tree. "Alright, Shinx! Let's start this off with your tackle attack, go!"

"Shinx!"

The electric lion cub gave a quick growl and charge through the flowers to where Heracross was attached to the tree trunk. As it saw the coming threat, Heracross finally let go, turning quickly to face Shinx.

"Hera!" it shouted, and suddenly, the shell on its back opened up, revealing a pair of rapidly buzzing wings. It lifted a few centimetres off the ground and flew head-first at Shinx.

"Be careful of its horn!" yelled Dell, and Bray called for Shinx to change course, which it only just managed in time. Heracross zoomed past and looped around, shooting back towards Shinx with surprising speed.

"Shinx, behind you!" cried Bray. "Charge yourself up!"

Blue sparks crackled around the cub's body as Heracross tackled it, sending Shinx flying, but not before it managed to give Heracross a quick shock. To Bray's horror, it didn't seem to have much effect at all, the blue bug shaking off the electric shock like it was nothing.

Heracross landed, its wings folding against its back, and its yellow eyes flickered back and forth between Shinx and Bray.

"Hera, hera!"

Taz bit her fingernails. "Keep it up, Bray!" she murmured.

"Show 'em who's boss!" cheered on Ozzie.

Bray pointed at Heracross. "So, you're pretty strong, eh? Well, take this! Thundershock attack!"

Shinx charged up briefly, and shot a bright blue bolt of electricity at the Heracross, who winced and hissed at the pain. Bray jerked his head arrogantly. "You felt that, didn't you?"

"_Hera hera hera!"_

Heracross' transparent wings exploded out again, and it flew forwards rapidly, horn extended. Before Shinx could move, Heracross reached it, jabbing repeatedly at the lion with its horn. Shinx whimpered as it was hit again and again.

"That's Heracross' Fury Attack!" commentated Taz frightfully.

"It's fast and strong," said Dell grimly.

Ending the flurry of jabs, Heracross forced its horn under Shinx's belly, lifting the small pokemon into the air.

"Oh no!"

Bray flinched as Heracross tossed its head violently, throwing Shinx into the air. The little cub squealed as it sailed higher, before beginning the trip back down. Heracross waited below, prepared to strike with its horn.

Bray thought quickly; he had about three seconds to issue a command to save Shinx before it was finished off by Heracross. He yelled out the first thing to come to mind.

"Thundershock from above, Shinx!"

Even while falling, Shinx heard his order, and unleashed its volts straight downward. Heracross was taken by surprise, and screech as the electricity surged through its body, lowering its head. Shinx landed on top of its horn, rolling down the insect's back and safely onto the ground. Behind it, Heracross was struggling to move; it had been paralysed by the Thundershock.

"Great going, Hotshot!" cheered Lex. "You've got him on the spot now."

Bray quickly dug inside a small pocket in his backpack, and withdrew his hand with an empty shrunken pokeball clasped within. Pressing the button to enlarge it, he prepared to throw it at his opponent.

"You're mine!" he shouted, and hurled the sphere. Heracross was sucked inside, and the ball wobbled violently as it landed on the soft soil in the meadow. Everybody – Shinx included – watched tensely as the ball finally finished rocking, sitting still in the field.

"Yes!" cackled Bray as he picked up the pokeball, looking at it proudly. "I caught it."

He turned to face the others. Lex winked at him. "Top battling, B-Boy," she said.

Dell and Harold looked astounded. "Why so surprised?" grinned Bray as he looked at them. "Didn't you think I could win?"

"Well, I have to say, Dell," chuckled the older farmer, his skinny frame shaking with the force. "I like this kid."

**000**

Hmm, bit of an abrupt ending, but I really wanted to finish this off tonight, and it's about three in the morning.

Anyway, tell me what you thought about it in a review. I put a bit of a spin on Floaroma Meadow; it would be boring if everything was the same as the games; after all, it's been six years since Platinum.

Anyways, I'll be off now. I'll work hard to get another chapter out by Christmas…as for the plot? Well, that'll be a surprise…

Toodles!


	12. Bonus Chapter 1: A Merry Gathering

**Pokemon**

**Passion For Glory**

In the words of the Grinch_: Merry Christmas, one and all!_ Wow, 2011's almost over already, it certainly slipped by. From the first anniversary of Aura Adventure, the conclusion of DBX: Volume 1, to the unfortunate cancellation of AA, to the beginning of Passion For Glory, and now to Christmas, the end of this amazing year. It's been a pleasure, my friends. I'm lucky to know you.

So, this year I wanted to do something special. Last year I don't even think I uploaded over Christmas, but this year's different. Just like TeamFourStar and Littlekuriboh, I want to do a Christmas episode; so I present the first bonus chapter of Passion For Glory. This is set about nine months before the series actually begins. The idea literally hit me out of nowhere; it's nothing particularly special at all, just a break from the travelling and adventure. Besides, I miss Jubilife.

So, without further ado…On with the chapter! Ho, ho, ho!

**000**

"Bui, bui!"

Jett rubbed his face against Bray's warmly, and the boy laughed as the otter licked his cheek.

"You're cheerful today, Jett," he said fondly, scratching his closest companion under the chin. "Maybe it's the whole spirit of the season."

Groaning slightly, he finished climbing the fourth flight of stairs and stepped into the hallway. He strolled down the corridor and knocked loudly on the second door from the stairs. Fixed onto the wood was the apartment number, _4_-_C_, but most of it was covered up by an enormous wreath mounted on the door. It was interwoven with bright red tinsel.

After a moment or two, the door swung open to reveal Taz, a warm smile fixed onto her face. "Hi Bray," she said, and hugged him. "Merry Christmas!"

"You too," laughed Bray, returning the gesture. Jett scampered off his shoulder and hopped onto Taz's head. She giggled, and hugged the orange otter as well. His twin tails whirled excitedly.

"Hi there, Jett," she tittered. "Merry Christmas to you as well!"

"Bui, bui-_bui!"_

Taz beckoned Bray inside. "Come on, Ozzie's already here. We're in the lounge room."

Bray swaggered inside, following Taz as she ran barefoot down the hallway and into the sitting room. There were two couches against the back wall, both facing in the general direction of the TV. A small coffee table was placed in the centre of the room, on top of a very shaggy rug. Taz's Psyduck sat dopily on the rug in front of the table holding its head in a daze.

The rest of the room was fairly decorated for the festive season. Little strings of tinsel hung from the walls, and lights had been strung up.

Ozzie himself was relaxing on the couch, slumped into the comfortable chair. Geodude was located nearby, trying to get the attention of Psyduck. It was a game that it and Jett often played.

"Hey, Oz!" greeted Bray, shooting the younger boy with a gun formed with his fingers. "What's shaking?"

Ozzie was for once without his trademark cap; it had been replaced with a red and white Christmas hat. It suited him; he looked even smaller and childish than normal with it on.

"Happy Christmas," he said, grinning at his best friend. "Where's Chase?"

Bray shrugged. "I dunno, actually. I haven't seen him all day."

Ozzie thought about it for a second, then shrugged. "He'll show up. Man, I can't wait for the exhibition match to start; only half an hour left."

Bray glanced at the TV. "Aw, I can't wait that long. It's going to be amazing; all of the Elite Four are there, as well as the Champion."

Taz entered the room again, holding a tray of small pies. "Here we go," she said, placing it on the coffee table. "Help yourselves."

Ozzie and Bray leapt straight into action, beginning to devour the pies without a second thought. Taz went slower, content with watching her friends enjoy themselves. She smiled as she watched them; they were crazy, but she couldn't ask for better companions.

Unaware of her scrutiny, Bray eyed a spotty pie with suspicion, picking it up. "I don't like the look of this," he muttered. "There's something wrong here…oh well!"

He shoved half of the pie in his mouth at once, and suddenly his eyes bulged.

"Gah, it's spicy!" he exclaimed, gagging. Ozzie and Taz laughed as he fell over backwards from where he was kneeling. "I hate spicy stuff!"

Jett climbed onto the table, and sniffed at the half-eaten pie that Bray had dropped. It snickered, and began hoeing in. Unlike its master, Jett _loved _spicy food. The otter's twin tails began to spin around as it ate.

"Bui!" it cried happily, and began on another pie, picking it right up off the plate.

Crawling back to his knees, Bray looked at his pokemon and laughed. "Don't eat too much, little guy, you'll be sick," he chuckled.

"Bui, bui bui, bui bui bui bui, bui!"

Once the pies were finished – at least a fifth of them eaten by Jett and Geodude – Taz brought out the next plate of morsels, a large pile of hotdogs. Ozzie rolled his eyes as Bray began salivating.

Suddenly, there was a heavy knock on the door, and Taz sprang to her feet just as she sat back down.

"That'll be Chase," she said brightly. "Back in a second."

She dashed out of the room and down the hallway, her feet making light taps on the floor. A few moments later she returned, and following her was Chase Wrighton.

With thin black eyebrows and a sharp nose, Chase had a mature responsible look to him, made only more apparent by his hazel eyes and cool personality. His spiky raven fringe hung over his forehead, and the collar of his navy jacket was also covered at the back. Ruining the image slightly was a light smattering of snow over his shoulders and head, a product of the Christmas season.

Standing in the doorway, Chase scanned the room and smirked. "Bray Rhen, stuffing his face with hotdogs…what a surprise."

Bray swallowed everything in his mouth at once, and almost choked. Hacking and coughing, he weakly looked up at his oldest and closest friend. "Hi Chase. You finally made it. Took your time."

Chase shrugged, and stepped into the room, casually falling onto one of the couches next to Taz. "I had things to do. Nothing too important. How's everybody?"

With Chase there, the gathering felt complete, the four friends eating and chatting together. A few minutes after Chase's arrival, Ozzie ordered everyone to hush.

"We can talk later," he said, grabbing the TV remote from where it sat next to the television and lobbed it over to Taz. "You do the honours."

As Taz rolled her eyes on and turned on the TV, Bray and Ozzie slid off their seats and sat on the rug. The black screen flashed to life, displaying a bright picture; a magnificent stadium, thousands upon thousands of screaming people in the stands.

"Just in time," commented Bray, and fell silent.

"_Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the Christmas Exhibition Special, right here on Lily of the Valley Island. And what a match we have for you!"_

The camera wildly zoomed in, panning around and showing the roaring crowd. In the centre of the stadium was a circular ring, a battlefield painted onto it, and at either end of the arena were two platforms for the trainers to stand in. To the side, a special stage was placed. And standing upon it, confidently poised before her millions of fans, was the Sinnoh League Champion herself.

She was tall and beautiful, with long blonde hair that went past her waist. It shined under the heavy lights in the stadium. The woman wore all black; long thin pants and a large coat that also acted as a cape. The coat was held together at the front with a tear-shaped gemstone brooch.

"It's Cynthia!" gasped Taz in amazement, eyes sparkling.

"And the Elite Four!" added Bray excitedly. And he was right; behind the Champion, standing in a row, were the four people recognised as the strongest in Sinnoh, apart from Cynthia herself. At one end was Aaron, a stick-thin bug enthusiast with bright green hair. His bright orange trousers stood out, and Bray watched him murmur something to the man next to him, a red-headed guy with a massive smile who's size was only beaten by his massive afro. Flint, the fire master.

Next along was Lucian, a psychic trainer. With tight red clothes covering his body, he was confident and powerful, with long purple hair. His tinted glasses only made him look even more impressive.

And finally, bringing the total up to four was a tall man with a massive green overcoat and black gloves. A mass of spiky blond hair covered his head. Formerly the Tower Tycoon at the Battle Frontier in the North-East, Palmer had taken over from the elderly Bertha when she had retired a few years before.

"Aren't they so cool?" fawned Bray, starstruck. Even though he'd seen them hundreds of times, he still got an incredible rush whenever they appeared.

Even Chase – normally stoic and calm - was looking at the five masters in awe, a hungry look in his eye. "You've got that right."

On the screen, Cynthia took up a microphone and raised it to her mouth. She had a strong confident voice. "_It is my proud duty as Pokemon Champion to declare the exhibition match today, and to announce the competitors. Give a big hand for Clay Stiller of Littleroot Town in Hoenn, and to Tegan Frain of Blackthorn City in Johto!"_

An ear-piercing scream rang through the stadium as the two trainers entered the arena from opposite ends. The camera zoomed in on Clay, a broad-shoulder trainer about nineteen years old. He was over two metres tall, with a colourful Hawaiian shirt and powerful hairy legs sprouting from his board shorts.

His opponent, Tegan, was older, in her early-twenties, with a slender frame and a smooth face. She had cocky brown eyes.

"Hey, I know him," said Ozzie curiously. "That Clay guy. Wasn't he…?"

"Yeah," said Chase, leaning forward. "He was in the final eight at the Evergrande Conference last June. He lost to Xavier Desmond."

Both trainers had microphones pinned to their collars, allowing the spectators to hear the commands they gave their pokemon, as well as to hear each other. Moving at the same speed, the climbed the stage from either side and shook hands in the middle, then shook hands with Cynthia. Parting again, they took their places in their boxes at opposite sides of the arena.

"_This will be a one-on-one exhibition match," _announced Cynthia. "_Begin!"_

"It's starting," whispered Taz, eyes wide.

With identical movements, the two trainers sent out their pokemon. The four teenagers watching from home all watched intensely as there were twin flashes of white light.

"_This is it, Starmie." _Clay's voice was projected around the stadium by his microphone. His pokemon, a purple starfish-like creature with a red gemstone at its core. It had a second star attached to its back, giving it ten limb-like appendages instead of five.

Facing it, on Tegan's side, was a massive armoured bug, looking similar to a humanoid praying mantis. Its mighty red exoskeleton covered its entire body. The bug had four buzzing wings, and hovered a few feet off the ground.

"Huh? What's that pokemon?" questioned Bray. Ozzie looked equally clueless. "I've never seen it before…"

"That's a Scizor," answered Taz, and Chase elaborated.

"Scizor's a Bug and Steel type," he said quietly. "From what I've heard, they're pretty tough, so that Clay guy is going to have a real fight on his hands."

"_You better get ready, Clay," _said Tegan. "_Scizor is my best pokemon."_

Clay inclined his head. "_I bet it is…but you're the one who should get ready. Starmie, let's rock. Ice Beam!"_

Starmie leapt into battle immediately, spinning forward and aiming one of its limbs at Scizor. A thin beam of ice fired from the tip of the point, shooting towards the massive bug opposite it. It was so cold that it was freezing the air around it.

"_Scizor, dodge!" _shouted Tegan, and Scizor's four wings exploded in a blur of motion, lifting the bug off the ground and into the air. The Ice Beam missed by less than two metres. "_Now, Silver Wind!"_

The claws that Scizor had for hands opened, and there was a mighty gust of air. Hundreds of tiny particles littered the air, flying towards Starmie.

Clay just grinned. "_Nice try, but not good enough. Rapid Spin, go!"_

Chase made a small sound of surprise as Starmie became a saw-like whirl, it's front and back stars spinning in opposite directions. The result was a helicopter-like manoeuvre that lifted Starmie right off the ground. The Silver Wind bounced off it, the particles blown away by the spinning.

"Great defence," murmured Chase. "Clay's a quick thinker."

"_Now, Thunderbolt!"_

Tegan gasped as Starmie exploded in electricity, the bright yellow sparks humming. Still spinning, Starmie launched a bolt towards Scizor, who was still hovering in the air twenty metres off the ground.

"_Quick, fly towards Starmie and use Iron Head!"_ she shouted in command, and Scizor obeyed her immediately, buzzing down. As the bolt of lightning reached it, it performed a barrel roll, zooming around the bolt in a corkscrew pattern, growing closer every second. As it flew, its head glowed bright white, and a second later it collided with Starmie, knocking the opponent several metres.

"So Scizor ended up landing the first hit," exclaimed Bray. "I wasn't expecting that."

Clay grinned.

"_What are you laughing at?" _asked Tegan, and then gasped. "_What the-?"_

Starmie spun around in midair, its twin bodies spinning yet again. To everybody's surprise, it swooped back and _flew _through the air, moving incredibly fast across the sky and slamming into Scizor.

"_Thunderbolt again!"_

"_Oh no!"_

Scizor cried out as electricity coursed through its body, and it fell, wings giving out.

"_Now, Hydro Pump!"_

Receiving its final command, Starmie spun back around to its place in front Clay and whirling to a stop. Suddenly, the jewel at its centre glowed, and an absolute _torrent _of water exploded from it, a tornado of gushing H2O rocketing towards Scizor. It looked up just in time to take the attack to the face, and was blown backwards before finally collapsing.

"_Scizor is unable to battle. Clayton Stiller is the winner!" _announced Cynthia, and the crowd erupted into cheers and screams. Clay bowed to them, and then called across to Tegan through his microphone.

"_Good match. I guess I was just that little bit stronger."_

Tegan grinned reluctantly, and returned Scizor to its pokeball. "_Thanks, Clay. We'll have another match one day."_

Bray sat up. "That was a fast match. It was amazing though, wasn't it? That Starmie was so fast."

Chase nodded thoughtfully. "That's for sure."

They watched as Cynthia presented Clay with a trophy, the young trainer accepting it with a handshake. As he left the stage, Cynthia looked around the stadium, and raised the microphone to her mouth again.

"_And with the exhibition match over, I have only one thing left to say…An announcement."_

She paused dramatically, and the crowd fell silent. Bray looked at the others. "What's she talking about."

"_To all the people of Sinnoh, I regret to say that I am stepping down as Champion of the region. It has been an honour to perform my duties for Sinnoh. Thank you all."_

**000**

Bray struggled to keep his eyes open as he stumbled into his room, Jett wrapped around his neck. Pulling back the bedsheets, he sunk onto the mattress.

"What a day, huh?" he said quietly to his pokemon. And it had been; the get-together at Taz's place, the match on TV, the barbeque later that night in the City Plaza.

And the shock announcement that had shook the entire country. Cynthia had abdicated the title of Champion.

"I wonder who'll replace her?" he pondered, and thought about all the possibilities. As he stared at the ceiling, he found himself drifting off. Smiling, he looked down at Jett, the otter curled up on his chest. His friend was already asleep. Bray smiled, and closed his eyes.

"Merry Christmas, Jett."

**000**

Short chapter, I know, but it's only a bonus special. Pretty much all the bonus chapters are gonna be shorter than normal, depending on the chapter in question. And I wrote this pretty sloppily, I know. Not the best I've ever done, that's for sure.

Anyway, I want to take this chance once again to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I thank each and every one of you for reading my work.

Toodles!


	13. The Sting of the Past

**Pokemon**

**Passion For Glory**

Happy New Year! Best Wishes for 2012 ;)

Right, well, I still can't think of anything to say…you run out of little quips after a while…

On with the chapter!

**000**

"What would you rather have happen to you?" asked Lex curiously, a thoughtful frown on her freckled face. "Be forced to sniff a Skuntank's fart, or to be shat on by a Camerupt?"

"What?"replied Taz indignantly.

"In the face, with your mouth open."

"…_What?"_

"I think I'd choose the fart," said Lex, chewing her lip as she weighed the two options. "At least that way I'd be knocked out pretty much straight away."

Taz wrinkled her nose in disgust, and waved her hands as if to shoo away the thought. "That's gross, Lex. What made you ask a question like that?"

Lex shrugged. "I was just wondering…so which is it?"

"Neither!"

Lex laughed, and laid back down into the grass.

The two girls were alone in one of the fields outside of Floaroma Town. Dell, the Keeper of the Meadow, had let them in; he owned a good deal of the land around the meadow. Lex was meant to be helping train Taz, but the two of them were taking a break.

"PsyYyYyYyYy…" groaned Psyduck as it waddled across the field, before collapsing next to Taz. She smiled warmly and picked it up, holding the fat yellow duck under its arms. It stared dopily at her.

"You've been working hard today, haven't you?" she fawned. "Soon we'll have that Water Gun really good."

"He's definitely getting better," added Lex, sitting back up. She was cross-legged, her hands resting in the small space between her folded legs and body. "You know, he's a pretty smart Psyduck. You've been training him pretty good."

Taz blushed a little, and shrank into the grass. "Thanks, Lex, but…I haven't really trained him that much. I'm not really a pokemon trainer, not like you or Bray or Ozzie. I don't actually train pokemon."

Lex tilted her head curiously. "Sure you do! You and me have been training Psyduck all morning. Besides, you won plenty of battles before. Of course you're a trainer."

Taz blushed, and suddenly started fiddling with the grass, shrinking under Lex's confident gaze. She opened her mouth, and said very quietly, "Hey Lex…Can I tell you a secret?"

"Hm?" Lex sat up straighter, leaning in. "Sure, Quiz, of course you can! Shoot."

Taz turned even redder. "I've never told anyone this before, so you can't tell anyone, alright?"

Lex nodded eagerly.

"Well, when Bray first came back from Professor Rowan's and we decided to go with him, I had a battle with Ozzie, like a…a practice match, sort of."

Lex nodded slowly this time. "Yeah…Bray told me about it. He said that you and Psyduck won pretty easily, right?"

Taz blushed again. "Not really…I wasn't expecting to win, because….well….it was the first battle I'd ever had."

This revelation greatly surprised Lex; the older girl looked around at Taz, her thin black eyebrows raised. "Your first ever match? You mean you'd never had any battles before then?"

Taz shook her head, her face tinged pink. "Not really…" she said timidly. "Except for exams in Pokemon School, and those aren't really battles."

Lex sat back, looking rather impressed. "Wow, and you still won. Not bad, Quizzy!"

"Psy!" quacked Psyduck loudly, breaking into their conversation. The fat yellow duck wriggled from Taz's arms and waddled away, holdings its head as it ran. Lex gazed fondly after it. She'd owned Psyduck since it was a baby, three years ago.

Lex cocked her head thoughtfully. "You might not realise it, Quiz, but you have skill. Why don't you battle more often, anyway? You act like you don't, but you have skill."

Taz shrugged. "I just…don't like it very much, I guess. I'd much rather study them like Professor Rowan does. Like you do!"

Lex shivered. "Trust me, Quiz, I don't study pokemon. I work for Rowan, but I don't study."

Taz laughed. "You're so weird."

**000**

Bray fixed his eyes greedily on the morsel clasped tightly in his hands. With a strange giggling sound, he shoved the hotdog halfway down his throat.

"Mmm-_mmm!" _he mumbled through a mouthful of food. "That's _gooood _stuff!"

Breaking off a small chunk, he held it out to the small fox pokemon in front of him. "Here you go, bright eyes, try some of this."

Lex's Eevee gobbled the morsel down eagerly, and put her front paws up on Bray's chest, smiling. He laughed, and rubbed the pokemon on the head.

"You like that?" he asked. "You've got great taste!"

Opposite him, Ozzie rolled his eyes, and took a hotdog for himself from the table. They were in the Pokemon Centre, looking after Eevee while Lex was out with Taz. Ozzie was looking at a heavily-creased map on the table, checking out their route again.

"I can't believe it's going to take us two weeks to get to Eterna City," he pondered, tapping the map. His finger pointed at their location, a small dot marking Floaroma Town.

In the South-West corner of Sinnoh, the towns were clustered together very tightly, leaving barely a day's walk between the cities. However, beyond that cluster, populated areas were much further apart, necessitating a significantly longer journey.

Bray groaned. "Don't remind me…my legs are going to be killing me by the time we get there." He poked another torn-off clump of bun and sausage into Eevee's mouth, who greedily swallowed it whole.

**000**

Taz awoke suddenly, her eyes opening without her will. The girl wondered why; normally she slept soundly, rarely waking. She looked at the Poketch on her arm, the luminescent face displaying _1:29. _Mumbling complaints to herself, she rolled over to face the wall, closing her eyes and trying to fall back to sleep.

Ten minutes later, she was still as awake as ever, her mind overflowing with thoughts preventing her from drifting off. Reflecting back on the day, she smiled as she recalled Psyduck finally pulling off a powerful Water Gun. She was proud of her pokemon friend.

Her imagination continued, and even as the clock ticked over to _2:13, _she still couldn't get to sleep.

"_Come on," _she thought, annoyed at herself. "_We're leaving tomorrow, you don't want to be tired as we walk, do you?"_

The peaceful quiet of the night was interrupted by a tiny sniff from somewhere behind Taz, and she rolled around to look across the room at the other bed, to where Lex lay.

Only she wasn't laying.

Taz sat up, staring at the bedsheets that had been kicked back, and looked around the room, spotting Lex almost immediately. The window was side open, and sitting on the ledge, legs hanging out into the air, was Lex. Her black hair blew lightly in the crisp breeze, and her shoulders were slumped. As Taz watched, Lex gazed out at the stars. Taz realised that Lex must have had been there since before she'd woken up almost an hour before, since she hadn't heard a sound.

"Lex?"

The younger girl climbed out of her bed and tentatively shuffled to the window. Lex looked down to the street below, and as Taz lowered her small frame onto the sill next to her – her legs hanging inside – she was surprised to see Lex's eyes. The intense flame that usually burned in the green irises had been extinguished, and the girl's face was quite emotionless.

"Hi, Quiz. You're awake then?"

She sighed heavily. Taz was concerned as she saw the usually so energetic Lex in this strange mood. She seemed dejected; nothing like her usual perky self. It was if she'd been evaporated.

"What's wrong, Lex?" Taz asked quietly.

Lex hesitated. "Well, you told me your secret this morning, so I guess I owe you one, right?" She gave a half-hearted chuckle, but it died quickly. "Well, here it is; I'm meant to go back tomorrow."

"Go back? What do you mean?"

"I mean go back. Home. To Sandgem Town."

Taz looked as if she'd had a bucket of ice-cold water thrown on her. "Oh…" was all she could say, and out of the corner of her eye Lex saw the younger girl hunch her shoulders, looking confused and lost.

There was silence for a few seconds, as Taz mulled over the information, still taken aback. Even though they'd only known each other for about a week, Lex had been an incredible friend to Taz; from saving the others from the Golbat to simpler things like helping her out with training Psyduck. Lex had been there whenever Taz had been stumped or feeling down or bored. Her naturally fun personality brought a general feeling of adventure and merriment to their journey.

Taz had greatly appreciated the other girl's company, a friend to confide in apart from two tactless boys. The presence of another female made the whole thing so much more manageable. Her constant grin and unique attitude never failed to cheer them all up.

Trying as hard as she could to stop them, Taz couldn't prevent the tears from welling up. She forced them back, but Lex saw straight through her false expression.

"You're a really nice person, Quiz," she said sadly, and for a split second had to struggle to hold back the tears herself.

"But…why do you have to leave? I thought you said that you were coming with us?" Taz had won the battle against her tears, but she almost choked as she spoke.

Lex sighed again. "I have come with you; it's been a real good week, Taz. I've had a really fun time with you guys. But I still work for Professor Rowan. This is my job; I did it for Chase as well. I go with new trainers to help them get used to being trainers. And I've done my job. I have to leave."

Taz was silent, and Lex saw that the girl has finally been defeated; tears were silently sliding down her face. Lex looked away, turning her gaze to the sky.

"I hate it even more than you do, Taz," she sighed, and Taz registered the use of her name. "I don't want to split away. I like it, travelling with you three. I…I like being a trainer. That was _my_ dream, just as it was B-Boy's. Just as it was Chase's."

Taz looked bemused. "What do you mean? You are a trainer – you're stronger than all three of us combined!"

Lex chuckled emotionlessly. "No, I'm anything but a trainer. A trainer travels the world, meeting new people and capturing pokemon. Making new friends every day and finding their purpose in the world. To test their limits and to prove themselves. Not me. I'm trapped.

She hiccupped. "That's my life; watching other people fulfil _their _dreams while I watch on, watching them do what I'd give anything to do. But I had my chance, and I blew it."

"Blew it? What do you mean?"

Lex looked at her younger friend, and in her eyes Taz saw many things. Among them were torment and agony, two things that she never would have thought to see in Lex. Rowan's assistant has _always _been free, never dulling, never letting others down. It was frightening to see her like this.

But among those saddening emotions, there were others; more positive feelings. Taz felt like breaking down in tears when she saw true genuine affection in Lex's heart. Despite what the girl had been saying - all these things about standing by while helping others achieve what she wanted to – she harboured no ill feelings whatsoever towards said people.

"_Lex…"_

"I've always been a little weird, ever since I was born. I was the crazy kid, the one that would say stupid stuff and annoy someone to get attention. All the other kids in the town would laugh and play along, but I was the loner."

She shook her head, a wretched smile on her face as she reflected to her childhood. "Can you imagine that? My best friends thought I was a total idiot."

Taz didn't know what to say. She realised that she'd had no idea of Lex's motives. "I…I'm sorry."

Lex shook her head again. "Don't worry about it, I was used to it. Anyway, after a while, we all got into being trainers. After all, the renowned Professor Rowan lived in our very hometown!" She spoke his name with a subtle venom in her voice. "But I wanted to take it that step further. I wanted to prove that I wasn't just some idiot, and that I could be even more useful than a trainer. I wanted to win somebody's favour. To seem intelligent for once in my damned life. So when all the others got their first pokemon from old Rowey, I asked him if I could be his assistant.

"Well, he said yes after a while, and I started learning from the Old Timer directly. He's been teaching me ever since, but just like that, I gave away my opportunity to be a trainer. Back then, I thought that after a while, once I'd learned everything I could from that old crackpot, I could leave with a huge advantage over all those other kids. What a load of wishful thinking that was; he began trusting me more and more, until I felt honour-bound to stay. I couldn't just abandon the old fart after everything he'd done for me.

"So I stayed. All my old friends, gone. Gone on their journeys living their lives to the maximum, while I was stuck back in Sandgem learning from the world's grumpiest teacher. The only friends I've had for years have been kids way younger than me. Sure, occasionally I teach new trainers like you guys, but then I have to go back and I hardly ever see them again. Hell, I've only seen Chase once since he left."

Taz looked shell shocked at Lex's story. Who would have known? This cheerful peppy girl, so damaged inside. She touched Lex on the arm, and Lex just dipped her head.

"And what good has it done? I'm still weak."

"No!" said Taz insistently, shaking her head. "No, Lex. How could you be weak?"

Lex snorted. "Think about it. I got my first pokemon six years ago. Chase became a trainer six _months _ago and he's already stronger than I am. I've wasted my life so far; soon it'll be too late. I'll be stuck as a lab assistant for my whole existence."

"Don't go back!" said Taz suddenly, but her voice shook. Clearing her throat, the girl tried again. "Don't go back. Keep travelling with us. Professor Rowan has a whole lab full of scientists to help him; he doesn't need you. Please…I don't want you to leave."

Lex didn't answer, and for at least two minutes neither of them spoke. Finally, Lex mumbled, "I don't know. I'll have to think about it, Taz. As much as I find Rowey an old geezer, he _has_ helped me."

She turned and smiled quirkily at Taz, some of her former jest and zeal returning. "Thanks, Quiz. I wasn't kidding about what I said before. You _are _really nice. Now go back to bed, I need some time alone to think. I'll see you in the morning, I guess."

Taz looked worried. "Alright…goodnight, Lex."

"G'night, Quiz."

**000**

"I guess this is it, then," said Dell gruffly, and clapped Bray on the shoulder. "Good luck, Brayden. Treat Heracross well."

"I will," promised Bray, smiling, and the two shook hands. The scarecrow smiled roughly. The kid was alright, he thought.

Next to Dell stooped Harold, his old skinny frame cast into shadow by his enormous straw hat. The old farmer grinned knowingly at the three trainers before him, and winked. "You fellas have good lives, you hear? Make sure to visit us when you can. You're always welcome at Floaroma Meadow."

"We will," laughed the teenagers, and Dell and Harold turned and walked away, raising their arms in farewell. Bray smiled sadly.

"It's a shame to leave, isn't it?" he said. "After all, it's a long walk to Eterna City. I'm gonna miss a nice warm bed."

"Oh, get over it!" grinned Ozzie. "Sleeping out in a tent will be fun as."

The three was waiting on the East path out of Floaroma Town. Everything was packed, their rooms in the Pokemon Centre emptied of belongings. Only one thing was missing.

"God, where the hell is Lex, anyway?" asked Bray, looking around as if Lex was going to pop from the ground at any moment.

Taz dipped her head sadly. She hadn't seen Lex at all since the night before, when they'd had their midnight conversation under the stars. The girl hadn't been in her room when Taz had woken up, and after returning to the room after breakfast, she'd discovered that all of Lex's belongings were gone, leaving only Taz's stuff left. Lex was gone.

"_Should I tell them?" _she thought, looking at her two male friends. They would take the news hard, but they would really begin to worry if they didn't know where Lex had gone. Taz opened her mouth to speak, but closed it again. She just couldn't do it. She couldn't accept that it was just the three of them.

"Let's start out," suggested Bray. "She knows where which direction we're going in, she'll catch up."

And so, before Taz could say a word, they were off, leaving Floaroma – and Alexis Greene – behind. Taz's eyes welled up, but for the sake of her friends not finding out just yet, surreptitiously wiped the discharge away.

They continued for an hour, steadily plodding down the road East, and beginning their two-week journey until Eterna City. And then, just as Taz had finally given up hope….

"Hey, what's the rush? You're all in a bit of a hurry to leave me behind, aren't you?"

The three turned around to see someone standing in the middle of the road behind them. With black hair – the tips dyed blonde – and a charmingly pretty, lightly freckled face, the girl flashed them a cheeky grin, closing her eyes as she did so. On top of the newcomer's head sat a small brown fox pokemon, clutching to her to stop itself from falling off.

"Lex!" gasped Taz, overjoyed.

"Told you she'd catch up," said Bray, oblivious to the real source of Taz's relief.

And as Lex joined her companions, a tiny smile crossed her face. Even though she was six years late, it was time for her to finally leave on her journey.

"_I'm a Pokemon trainer."_

**000**

Huh…weird story about this chapter. Sorry it's rather short, it's the shortest chapter I've written in a while. It's a bit of a "day in the limelight" for Taz and Lex, lol.

Anyways, it's a bit of a filler chapter to explain a bit about Lex's past, so not much action at all, really. Oh well, it was interesting writing it.

Stay tuned for next chapter…let's just say it features an important character…somewhat of a familiar face.

Toodles!


	14. A Short Break

**Pokemon**

**Passion for Glory**

Hiya guys. Just a quick break notice; don't worry, the series isn't being cancelled. I just need some time to regain my motivation. It might seem a bit long, but I'm going to take 2-3 months off from working on Passion For Glory to focus on my two other stories, Dragon Ball X, and Nindō – Shinobi Heart, as well as to rebuild my enthusiasm for this fic.

Sorry :/

See you in a few months!


	15. Farewell Again

Hello.

I bet you can guess what's happening here. If you guessed that I'm ending PFG, you'd be spot on. Unfortunately.

Man, pokemon fics don't really seem to work out for me, do they? I guess I'm just exhausted by the whole "journey fic" idea. They're just not that interesting to write. I need something else, an actual _story _instead of just a whole bunch of episodes.

So, it's gone. I'll keep it up on my profile, just like I did Aura Adventure.

Thanks to all of you for reading ;) I've enjoyed your company. Just so you know, I'm doing _another _pokemon fic, but this one's not a journey fic. It's a bit more mature and darker, more my kind of thing. So stay tuned. I don't know when I'm going to post the first chapter, but it'll probably be at least two months. I'm still on my PFG break, even if it's not being updated anymore, lol.

Well, I guess this is it for now. See you soon, if you stick around ;) May the Force be with you.

Animaster21, signing off.


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